Democratic nominee Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
Colom’s narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi, which has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations, and it will echo through the country as well. The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states, and it will bolster some Democrats’ argument that their future runs through the American South.
Just a reminder that this historic win is in spite of the widespread and varied voter suppression tactics, gerrymandering, and other measures Republicans have installed in Southern states to keep themselves in power.
If this were a state with no gerrymanders, enough local polling places and voting machines and open hours and fair voter ID laws and strong ballot and election processes ensuring that ALL its citizens could vote, this win would not be by such a fine margin.
It would be a landslide.
In-state Gerrymander doesn’t matter for the Senate, but otherwise 100% agreed.
It contributes to voter suppression by discouraging voting because of all the other races beibg stacked.
they target black areas, because they make the majority of voters for the dems mostly.
Very true, thanks for pointing it out. If I’d thought about it for two more seconds I might have gotten there, lol.
But I think I included it just because gerrymanders tend to decrease turnout in general: if you know your district is going to vote red no matter what, then why bother? But Mississippi voters came out anyway.
texas turned bluer, despite it being the most gerrymandered state.