Kamala Harris heads to Mississippi to rally for Scott Colom as Democrats push for an upset Senate win

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is spending Thursday in Mississippi trying to help Democrats pull off one of the biggest surprises of the midterm elections. She is campaigning alongside Scott Colom, the Democrat challenging Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, with a morning stop in Clarksdale and an evening rally in Colom's hometown of Columbus.

The Columbus event is set for 6 p.m. in the Columbus High School gym, with doors opening at 4:30. The campaign said more than 1,000 people signed up to attend. Only those with tickets will get in, but the rally will also be streamed online.

Colom's campaign manager said the turnout showed real excitement for the candidate and for Harris as voters head toward Election Day on Nov. 3.

A venue falls through

The rally was first planned for Pohl Gymnasium at Mississippi University for Women. On Tuesday the school's interim president pulled the plug, saying the campus had only been a possible site and that the planning and security work needed on short notice would disrupt normal campus life.

The county sheriff said he had raised concerns about parking and security after a planning meeting at the gym and agreed there was not enough time to get ready. Colom said the school had been talking with his team for about a week and had signaled everything was on track. He called it disappointing that the school, founded in 1884 as the country's first public college for women, would not host the first woman to serve as vice president.

Who Scott Colom is

Colom is in his third term as district attorney for a judicial district in northeast Mississippi. He has built his campaign around the cost of living, health care and what he calls corruption in state government. Harris is the latest in a long line of well known Democrats who have come to the state to campaign with him.

If he wins he would become the first Black senator to represent Mississippi since Reconstruction. The state sent Hiram Revels to the Senate in 1870 as the first Black senator in the nation's history and later elected Blanche K. Bruce, who left office in 1881. No Black senator has represented the state since then.

National money arrives

Democrats are spending more in a state they usually write off. A super PAC tied to Senate Democratic leaders started running $1.2 million worth of television ads on Wednesday that will stay on the air through Election Day. The spots tout Colom's record as a prosecutor and hit Hyde-Smith for opposing an expansion of Medicaid.

Hyde-Smith's campaign has painted Colom as too liberal for Mississippi voters. The race also includes independent candidate Ty Pinkins. The state went Republican by nearly 23 points in the 2024 presidential race, so Democrats are counting on strong turnout among Black voters, who make up a large share of the electorate.