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By Steve Mollman
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Former Vice President Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump a “tyrant” and urged Mississippi voters to “turn that anger into action” on Thursday as she campaigned for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom.
Speaking at a rally in Columbus, Harris said voters had 12 days to make history in a contest that has drawn growing national attention despite taking place in a state Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024.
“Mississippi matters,” Harris said. “We’ve got work to do. We’ve got 12 days to make history.”
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Harris attacked Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith over her vote for Trump’s 2025 reconciliation law, arguing that its Medicaid provisions would hurt a state where roughly one in four residents rely on the program for health coverage. Harris described the legislation as imposing a $1 trillion cut to Medicaid.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the law would reduce federal Medicaid spending by about $911 billion over a decade compared with previous projections. Hyde-Smith voted for the legislation when it passed the Senate in July 2025.
Hyde-Smith defended her vote at the time, acknowledging that the legislation was “not perfect” but calling it “a bold step toward forcing greater efficiency, savings, and accountability from our federal government.”
Newsweek contacted Hyde-Smith’s campaign by email Thursday evening for further comment on Harris’ remarks.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” Harris said. “We can do better.”
Harris also praised Colom as someone who “looks at the people, not in the mirror,” saying his life had been one of service.
Her visit came four days before Trump is due to travel to Mississippi to campaign for Hyde-Smith at a rally in Corinth, putting the former 2024 presidential rivals on opposite sides of the Senate contest within days of each other.
Hyde-Smith campaign manager Jake Monssen told Newsweek on Thursday that Trump had offered to help the senator “rally voters and support her get-out-the-vote efforts.” He rejected suggestions that the visit reflected vulnerability.
“We are confident that Mississippians will once again send Cindy Hyde-Smith to the U.S. Senate,” Monssen said.
Trump also pushed back Friday on suggestions that the unexpectedly competitive race was a sign of trouble for Republicans. Asked what it said about the midterms that Mississippi was now considered in play, Trump pointed to his own past performance in the state and confirmed that he had been asked to campaign there.
“Cindy Hyde is fantastic and she's very popular,” Trump told reporters. “She's up in the polls. She's not losing.”
Newsweek reached out on Thursday to the Colom campaign for comment.
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Why Republicans Are Moving to Protect the Mississippi Senate Seat
Mississippi would ordinarily be an unlikely Senate battleground. Trump carried the state with 60.9 percent of the vote in 2024, compared with 38 percent for Harris, and Republicans have held the seat for decades.
Axios reported Wednesday that the Senate Leadership Fund, which is aligned with Republican Senate leadership, had reviewed Mississippi two weeks earlier and concluded that spending was not necessary but is now reassessing the contest and may spend to protect Hyde-Smith.
The Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC announced Tuesday that it was spending an initial $1.2 million on television statewide through Election Day, November 3, along with a digital campaign.
Senate Majority PAC spokesperson Lauren French told Newsweek on Thursday that the $1.2 million campaign would run statewide through Election Day and that the group would “keep watching this race closely for further investments.”
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The investment marked a change in strategy after Democrats previously said their resources were stretched too thin across an expanding Senate map to spend in Mississippi, Politico reported Tuesday. Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Ruben Gallego of Arizona had pushed for more investment in the contest, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York had pitched donors on Mississippi and hosted a fundraiser for Colom earlier this year.
French said that Trump’s planned visit was evidence of how competitive Democrats believe the race has become.
“When Donald Trump has to fly into a state he carried by more than 20 points to prop up an incumbent Republican eight days before Election Day, that tells you where this race stands,” French said.
Colom campaign manager Gerard Henderson pointed to the investment as evidence of the campaign’s momentum.
“Mississippi is in play because thousands of Mississippians volunteered and chipped in to make this race competitive,” he said in a statement to Politico on Tuesday. “We clearly have the momentum and resources to win on November 3rd and prove to the nation that Mississippi Matters.”
What Mississippi Senate Polls Show About Hyde-Smith vs. Colom
A Data for Progress survey conducted August 5-15 found Hyde-Smith ahead of Colom by 6 points, 44 percent to 38 percent, with independent candidate Ty Pinkins at 7 percent. The survey of 1,018 likely voters was sponsored by the Democratic-aligned Way to Lead PAC, Democracy Alliance and Democracy Strategy Partners.
Prediction market Kalshi, meanwhile, gave Hyde-Smith a 90.3 percent chance of winning as of Thursday afternoon, compared with 9.7 percent for Colom.
The late spending and visits by national political figures provide separate evidence that both parties are paying closer attention to the contest but do not show that Hyde-Smith is likely to lose.
Kamala Harris Urges Voters to Turn Anger Into Action
Harris used the Columbus rally to make the case for electing Colom while delivering a blistering attack on Trump and his administration, describing the country as being in a “troubling time.”
“We are witnessing, among the highest levels of leadership in our country, including the White House, a tyrant,” Harris said.
Harris accused the administration of displaying brutality and described it as “the most callous, corrupt and incompetent presidential administration we have ever experienced.”
But she told supporters that frustration with the administration now needed to be converted into political action on behalf of Colom.
“We’ve spent the last year and a half looking at the TV saying words we don’t say in church, sometimes throwing things,” Harris said, referring to the pain she said people were experiencing. “Well, guess what? We’re 12 days out, and it’s time to turn that anger into action, because that phase is over.”
Harris told the crowd they had Colom to fight for them as she urged voters to elect him to the Senate.
Harris is the latest in a series of nationally known Democrats to get behind Colom.
Former President Barack Obama endorsed Colom in an ad that began running this week. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to campaign for him along the Mississippi Gulf Coast on October 27.
Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland have already visited Mississippi to support Colom, while Warnock has also campaigned on his behalf.
Hyde-Smith has attacked her opponent over his ties to national Democrats and the prominent party figures campaigning on his behalf. Colom has countered by portraying Hyde-Smith as out of touch with Mississippi voters and criticizing her for not debating him.
Monssen told Newsweek on Thursday that the Harris visit showed Colom was “beholden to the far left,” while blaming the Biden-Harris administration for inflation and problems at the southern border.
Donald Trump Heads to Mississippi to Help Cindy Hyde-Smith
Republicans are bringing in their own biggest political draw. Trump's Corinth rally is scheduled for October 26, eight days before Election Day.
That puts the two candidates from the 2024 presidential election on opposing sides of the Mississippi Senate contest within days of each other.
Trump has backed Hyde-Smith since well before the race began attracting heightened national attention. In March 2025, he described her as “100 percent MAGA” and gave her his “Complete and Total Endorsement” for reelection.
Could Democrats Really Flip a Senate Seat in Mississippi?
Democrats face a formidable electoral history. No Democrat has won a Mississippi Senate election since John C. Stennis in 1982, and the party last won a statewide race in 2015.
Trump carried Mississippi by approximately 23 points in 2024, while Republicans control the governorship and both chambers of the state Legislature.
Hyde-Smith, however, has never received more than 55 percent of the vote in either of her previous Senate victories. She defeated Democrat Mike Espy by about 10 points in 2020 after beating him by less than 8 points in the 2018 special-election runoff.
There have also been signs of Democratic competitiveness below the presidential level. Republican Governor Tate Reeves defeated Democrat Brandon Presley by about 3 points in 2023.
Democrats gained two Mississippi state Senate seats in special elections in November 2025, breaking the Republican supermajority in the chamber. Those contests followed court-ordered redistricting that created additional majority-Black districts, however, making them substantially different from this year’s statewide Senate race.
Mississippi also has the highest proportion of Black residents of any state, giving Democrats a substantial base of support while leaving them dependent on strong turnout and gains elsewhere in the electorate to win statewide.
Harris framed the final stretch as an opportunity for voters to channel their dissatisfaction with the Trump administration into support for Colom. Whether that energy can overcome Mississippi’s Republican lean remains the central question in a race that both parties are now treating with increased urgency.
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn
here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech and Dave Siminoff.
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