Stacey Abrams has been quietly building political power in Mississippi. Scott Colom could be the payoff

After helping reshape Georgia’s electorate through years of Black voter organizing, Abrams has spent years building similar political infrastructure in Mississippi, where Scott Colom now has a chance to make history.

All eyes are on Mississippi’s midterm election, where Scott Colom‘s fighting chance to upset Republicans could see him flip a U.S. Senate seat that hasn’t been won by a Democrat in a generation–since 1982 to be exact.

Just days away from Nov. 3, Colom is closing in on Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. Polls show him trailing the Republican by just 5 points in a red state that elected Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election by 23 points.

The race is so competitive that it has attracted big-name Democrats, including former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton and former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

The political shift in Mississippi is partially the result of years-long grassroots investment and organizing led by Stacey Abrams. Her voting rights advocacy groups—Fair Fight, Fair Count and the Southern Economic Advancement Project—have spent or raised more than $5 million in Mississippi over the past eight years.

“Stacey’s work in Mississippi, which is her home state, has been both practical and extremely effective,” Brandon Presley, a former Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial nominee, told theGrio. “She is the type of leader that understands that politics is about addition and not subtraction.”

The former Georgia state House minority leader and two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee is credited with re-engineering the Peach State’s electorate, powered by Black voters, to bring huge and historic wins for Democrats in 2020. Now she and other Democrats hope that winning strategy can bring similar results in Mississippi, where Colom could become the first African American to win the U.S. Senate seat since the Reconstruction era in the 1870s.

“Scott didn’t surge. Scott’s been building,” Abrams told theGrio. “He’s been doing this work. He’s been running this race.”

Abrams credits Colom for his “consistent and persistent” campaigning that is finally breaking through, resulting in the national Democratic Party’s Senate Majority PAC spending $1.2 million in advertisement.

“Scott has positioned himself and the people of Mississppi and a campaign that has never forgotten who he’s running for; the kind of success that I think we’re going to see on Tuesday,” said Abrams.

However, Mississippi Democrats say this moment would also not be possible without the years of work Abrams and her organizations have put into the state.

“She was really one of the people who [was] instrumental in helping us not only win, but shine the light on Mississippi and the ability of us to govern,” Mississippi State Senator Johnny DuPree told theGrio. “If she and the organization had not stepped up to the plate, I don’t think we would have gotten noticed by anybody else.”

Dupree was one of two Democrats to flip Republican-held state senate seats in last year’s special elections, allowing Democrats to end a Republican supermajority.

Abrams’ long-term mobilization of Black voters, who make up nearly 40% of the state population, has been a major component of the Democratic strategy in Mississippi.

“My mission is to broaden and expand the electorate,” said Abrams, who noted that Colom could flip the U.S. Senate seat with fewer than 30,000 votes in Mississippi, where there are more than 1 million eligible Black voters.

The Mississippi native, who notes she “came of age” in Georgia, where she attended Spelman College and later launched her political career, says she and her coalition have been talking to Black voters about the real-life consequences of their vote, rather than simply pushing voter registration.

“Voter registration is a point of entry. It should never be a destination. And unfortunately, we’ve had a political strategy that conflated the two,” Abrams told theGrio.

The political organizer explained, “Voter registration is the beginning of a conversation, but so is having a conversation about why water in Jackson is tainted, and why the state has done nothing. Why the governor and Brett Favre were able to siphon money away from healthcare and education and poor people while enriching themselves.”

Brandon Presley’s 2023 gubernatorial contest against Republican Gov. Tate Reeves saw him come closer to victory than any Democrat had in decades, powered in part by strong Black voter turnout.

“I think we showed in 2023 that you can compete in Mississippi,” Presley told theGrio. “I hope that that race was very much the springboard that gets us to where you’re seeing Mississippi change.”

Presley, a member of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, said of Abrams, “Stacey was in early with Fair fight. She had boots on the ground, doing everything they could to aid our campaign, and I will always be deeply grateful for that.”

Abrams and her organizations did not retreat after Presley’s 2023 loss. Presley pointed to Democratic gains in the 2025 municipal elections as evidence of that continued work, telling theGrio, “[She] didn’t just let it die with my race.”

Abrams said that consistency is central to her organizing strategy.

“In Mississippi, whether we win or lose, we don’t leave,” she told theGrio. “We are there to build, and when you are focusing on building versus winning, then winning comes.”

That is why Democrats believe Scott Colom has a real shot in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate race.

“Don’t write off Mississippi,” said Presley. “I think this Senate race today is showing just how competitive this state really is.”

Whether Colom is successful or not on Tuesday, Abrams hopes the gradual gains—and investments—for Democrats can become a blueprint across the U.S. South.

“This race, really [is] signaling to a national audience that Mississippi is ready for investment, and that the South is ready for change,” she told theGrio.

“If you use the pillars of Mississippi and Georgia, you can set the framework for what can be delivered for the South,” said Abrams. “And when you deliver that for the South, you’re delivering that for the nation.”

Abrams’ investment in Mississippi is political, but Colom’s potential victory is also personal for her.

The 52-year-old Democrat recalled writing a report about Blanche Bruce, the first African American elected to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate from Mississippi.

“That captured my attention and has held it for more than 40 years,” she told theGrio. “Sending Scott to D.C. would be a restoration of what they tried to stop with the end of Reconstruction.”

Recalling the work of her often cited political inspiration, Abrams said, “That is what Fannie Lou Hamer fought for; not for more than we deserve, but for the right to be where we have earned our place.”

She added, “Scott would be emblematic of that, and I’d be extraordinarily proud of his success.”