President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Mississippi on Monday as part of a closing midterm campaign push that underscores the challenges Republicans face. The election could significantly shift power in Washington and in statehouses nationwide.
Mississippi is among the most reliably Republican states, and it is not where the GOP expected to need a late-October appearance from the president. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith faces a strong challenge from Democrat Scott Colom, one of several Democratic underdogs who have widened the House and Senate battleground maps. Voter frustration over inflation, the Iran war and other aspects of Trump's second term has helped fuel their campaigns.
The evening rally with Hyde-Smith opens a week in which Trump continues to face off against former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Many of the states on his itinerary are ones he won comfortably in 2024. Almost 30 million people have already cast ballots, while Republicans work to protect a thin House majority, secure a Senate majority once considered safe, and hold their national advantage in state capitals.
Other candidates and surrogates are also on the road. Harris will campaign in Wisconsin with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who is running for governor against Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Trump ally. Crowley would become the state's first Black governor if elected. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff and gubernatorial nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms are receiving help from Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who chairs the Democratic Governors' Association and is a likely 2028 presidential candidate. Trump made his second October visit to Georgia two days earlier.
In Minnesota, progressives are seeking to capitalize on economic hardship. Democratic Senate nominee Peggy Flanagan, the state's lieutenant governor, is hosting House Progressive Caucus Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal of Washington to promote a national health insurance plan aimed at universal coverage. House Majority PAC also announced almost $2.5 million in new spending in Minnesota and Indiana districts once viewed as solidly Republican. The Minnesota district is heavily rural and has long favored Republicans, apart from the period when Tim Walz, the two-term governor and 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, represented it.
Hyde-Smith, a former state agriculture commissioner seeking her second full term, remains the favorite in a state Trump has won three times by an average of nearly 20 percentage points. Colom, a local prosecutor, hopes to turn inflation, Trump's lagging popularity and Hyde-Smith's missteps into an upset. He would be Mississippi's first Black senator since Reconstruction after the Civil War.
Colom has out-raised Hyde-Smith since launching his campaign last year. He drew national attention this month with an ad referencing Hyde-Smith's dismissal of high beef prices, which have been pushed up by Trump's tariffs and by fuel spikes tied to the Iran war. In the ad, she says consumers "have so many other proteins to choose from," and Colom says Mississippi should "pick another senator instead."
His campaign later posted a social media video featuring an AI-generated Hyde-Smith dodging questions about that controversy and other topics. Colom removed it after the Mississippi attorney general said it could violate a state law banning deepfakes close to Election Day. Senate Democrats' super PAC has also entered the race late with a $1.2 million investment, a modest amount compared with contests in larger states like Texas or Georgia, though it can stretch further in Mississippi's smaller television markets.
Mississippi has not elected a new Democratic senator since 1947, and Democrats last won a Senate race there in 1982, when John Stennis, a onetime segregationist, won his final reelection. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, so Democrats need to flip at least four seats to take control. Republicans began the cycle with a 220-215 House advantage, though a national gerrymandering fight made nine Democratic-held seats friendlier to Republicans based on 2024 presidential results.
