How Cindy Hyde-Smith Orchestrated Her Own Mississippi Downfall - Newsweek
Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith has been unseated by Democratic challenger Scott Colom in Mississippi, a major upset in a state that has long been a GOP stronghold.
But, several years ago, Hyde-Smith herself set into motion the series of events that led to Colom challenging her and winning her seat.
In 2023, Democratic President Joe Biden nominated then-district attorney Scott Colom to serve as a U.S. District Court Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi.
Hyde-Smith, who had been a Mississippi senator since 2018, blocked Colom's nomination. She cited his position on transgender rights and campaign donations from a political action committee backed by billionaire George Soros.
Hyde-Smith said that Colom was "smart and well liked in his district," but added she would not return a "blue slip" to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. This is a century-old procedure by which senators can signal their support for judicial nominees from their state.
Mississippi's other Republican senator, Roger Wicker, had supported Colom's nomination.
Colom has said that Hyde-Smith’s blocking of his nomination directly influenced his decision to run.
"What troubled me about it was it didn’t matter what any of the people in Mississippi said. It didn’t matter if Republicans supported my nomination," Colom previously told the Magnolia Tribune. "Our junior senator just decided she wasn’t even going to let me have a hearing."
Colom said that the incident made him look at Hyde-Smith’s record and come to the conclusion that she had been "terrible for Mississippi."
"I just know that we’re the type of state that has to have a senator that focuses on us," Colom said. "That was why I ran."
Newsweek contacted the Hyde-Smith and Colom campaigns via email on Thursday, outside of regular working hours and is awaiting responses.
On the night of the midterm elections, Hyde-Smith gave a speech expressing confidence in her reelection and referenced the events from years ago.
"I blocked Scott Colom from being a federal judge. And you blocked him from being a U.S. senator," she said, in a comment that would prove to be premature.
Colom wrote to Hyde-Smith in 2023 to address her concerns and request that she reconsider his nomination.
He said that Soros had funded an independent PAC that subsequently contributed to his campaign. However, he added that he had never met Soros or spoken with him, and that he did not know about his donations until he read it in a newspaper.
Colom also responded to Hyde-Smith’s claim that he had opposed legislation to protect female athletes. He said he did not know what she was referring to, as he had signed a statement supporting gender-affirming healthcare, which had no reference to athletics.
"Moreover, I would note that if confirmed as a judge, any views I had about policy matters would be irrelevant to my daily work," Colom said.
Hyde-Smith did not change her mind about blocking his nomination.
The Mississippi race was called in Colom’s favor on Wednesday, after a lengthy vote-counting process due to the tight margins. When The Associated Press called the race, Colom was ahead by a margin of just under 4,700 votes.
The race had not been considered competitive in the deeply Republican Mississippi, which President Donald Trump won by more than 20 percentage points in 2024.
But Colom gained momentum in the weeks leading up to the election. He focused his campaign on the cost of living, capitalizing on frustration over rising food and fuel prices.
Colom’s campaign also attracted wider attention with a viral campaign ad mocking Hyde-Smith's response to a question about beef prices, after she suggested people choose another protein. "Pick another senator instead," Colom said in the ad.
