‘You’ve never even been to Mississippi’: Scott Colom calls out political experts for writing off the South

Scott Colom says Cook Political predictions made fundraising harder for Southern Democrats and reinforced misconceptions about the region’s political landscape.

Mississippi’s Senate race has unveiled a number of gaps in the U.S. election system. As community organizers push to ensure every single ballot is counted in the race for the state’s Senate seat, democratic candidate Scott Colom is sounding the alarm about prognosticator polls and reports. This week, Colom took to social media to call out non-partisan political forecaster Cook Political and others for the way they reported on southern candidates. 

“At some point, we have to talk about @CookPolitical and other ‘prognosticators’ who had me and other southern candidates labeled as solid R for much of the campaign cycle. They made it much more difficult to fundraise and are part of the reason the South has been neglected for so long,” he wrote on X. 

The “Solid R” label refers to Cook Political’s “Solid Republican” rating, which describes a race where the Republican Party has a clear advantage, making it noncompetitive. Through the years, Cook Political has become a respected voice in the political space known for its accurate predictions. While the platform reports 97 percent of its “Likely” ratings and 94 percent of its “Lean” ratings proving correct, communities have called out what appears to be a pattern in these predictive reports.  

While many prognosticator reports for the 2026 Midterm elections underestimate Democratic candidates, these predictions fuel growing stereotypes about the political landscape in southern states like Mississippi. 

“They’re only a reflection of the past and mysteriously avoid any accountability when they’re wrong,” Colom noted. “One of their “analysts” was extremely condescending to me (not Jessica) when I tried to make my pitch for why they were wrong about my rating like he knew something about MS politics when he’s never been to the Sip. This attitude hurt [Louisiana Senate candidate] Jaime Davis & others so much.” 

During an appearance on MS Now, the Senate candidate expanded on this explained: “I think if Jamie Davis hadn’t had so much doubt and skepticism behind his candidacy, I think he probably would have won. You know, not everybody had champions like me, with [people like] Symone [Sanders Townsend], beating that drum [to say] that this guy has a chance.” 

Given the history of the United States, many people believe southern states to be widely conservative. And though these states may lean towards the Republican Party in past presidential and midterm elections, advocate Rukia Lumumba tells theGrio that Mississippi voters have been shifting that perception for years. 

“Mississippi…we’re a changing state, that we’re a state of progress, that we’re a state of potential, we’re a state of possibility,” Lumumba shared. “If folks pay attention to our gains in 2020, they could see that the tide was shifting.”

She continued: “In 2020, when we were given the option through ballot initiatives to vote to change our state flag to remove the Confederate emblem from our state flag, 72 percent of Mississippians across color lines, across race lines, voted to change that state flag. When we were asked in 2020 to vote for medical marijuana, over 60% of Mississippians voted for that. When we were asked to end our archaic, discriminatory, and racist electoral college process here in 2020, Mississippians voted overwhelmingly to eliminate our electoral college in the state.”

And Colom reportedly tried to echo a similar message to an unnamed Cook Political reporter, whom he specified was not Cook Political Report’s Jessica Taylor. 

“The thing about Cook Political report is…there was one guy that I tried to explain to him the potential in Mississippi and why the report was wrong,” Colom said in his appearance on MS Now. “And he wouldn’t even listen to me. He basically acted like he knew more about Mississippi politics than me, and I’m thinking in the back of my mind, he’s being so condescending to me, but I’ve been paying attention to Mississippi Politics for 20 years.
I’ve never even seen you in Mississippi.”  

Throughout, Colom has gained praise from voters across the country for his approach to politics. From his ads to his decision to swap traditional door knocking for visiting employees at fast food restaurants and big box stores, Colom’s campaign has disrupted the status quo. So much so that he reportedly ignored his adviser’s advice not to bring former Vice President Kamala Harris on his campaign, as reported by the Washington Sun. 

Still in the lead of the Mississippi Senate race against incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, Colom told CNN he’s ready to serve as the state’s next US Senator, noting: “It’s time to start focusing on the people of Mississippi.”