Scott Colom seeks to do the near impossible – defeat an incumbent Mississippi senator ...Middle East

Democrat Scott Colom is trying to do what has not been done since 1942 – defeat an incumbent United States senator from Mississippi.

Colom, the district attorney for the Columbus area in parts of northeast and east central Mississippi, is considered a longshot to defeat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith for a number of reasons.

First of all, Mississippi is considered a solid Republican state that has not elected a Democratic governor since 1999 and has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator since 1982.

And to make matters worse for Colom, former Democrat Ty Pinkins is running as an independent in the November general election and could siphon more votes from him than from Hyde-Smith in a contest where the challenger needs every vote he can get.

And finally, Mississippians do not vote incumbent senators out of office. There is no better definition of job security than holding one of Mississippi’s two U.S. Senate seats.

For those reasons and others, it really is not surprising that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee opted not to allocate any of the $40 million pledged on electing Democratic senators this November to Colom in Mississippi. Based on polling data, the Democrats have a realistic chance to garner control of the Senate and the powers that be chose not to spend their finite resources in a state where the odds of winning appear long.

Still, Colom and Democrats can cite reasons for a glimmer of hope. In high-profile statewide elections the past few years – Senate races between Hyde-Smith and former U.S. Rep. Mike Espy and recent gubernatorial elections – Democrats have been relatively close to victory.

So, Colom continues the campaign grind, hoping to do what has not been done since 1942 – defeat an incumbent Mississippi senator.

But the specifics of the 1942 campaign also do not provide Colom much reason for hope. It was an unusual turn of events that led to James O. Eastland defeating incumbent Wall Doxey in 1942. After that fateful 1942 election, Eastland, a Democrat, went on to serve until he retired in 1978 and was replaced by Republican Thad Cochran.

Eastland was originally appointed in 1941 by Gov. Paul Johnson to fill a Senate seat vacated when Pat Harrison died in office. But in accepting the appointment, Eastland promised not to run in the upcoming special election later that year. He did not. Doxey won the special election, but a short one year later lost the regularly scheduled election for the full six-year term to  Eastland, who had sat out the special election to fulfill his promise.

Actually at the start of the process where senators were elected by the people instead of the state legislatures, it was not that uncommon for an incumbent Mississippi senator to lose. The 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1913, provided for the election of senators by the people.

In 1912, Mississippi opted to hold the first popular vote to elect a U.S. senator, jumping ahead of the ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913. In that election, Delta planter LeRoy Percy, who originally was elected by the Legislature, lost to notorious racist James K. Vardaman. Then Vardaman, who was one of six senators to vote against America entering World War I, was defeated in 1918 by Harrison. In 1934 incumbent Hubert Stephens of Union County was upended by another notable racist – Theodore Bilbo. And then there was the 1942 election.

Those are the examples where incumbent Mississippi senators have been defeated in popular elections or by a vote of the people – Percy, Vardaman, Stephens and Doxey.

Scott Colom is hoping to add Hyde-Smith’s name to the list of defeated U.S. senators from Mississippi.

Perhaps, in reality the odds are in his favor. It is bound to happen eventually.

Hence then, the article about scott colom seeks to do the near impossible defeat an incumbent mississippi senator was published today ( Sunday 16/08/2026 - 02:02 PM ) and is available on Mississippi Today ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.

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