COLUMBUS, Miss.—Nadia Colom, the wife of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom, had a long, hard day on Aug. 13, she recalled writing in her journal. It was a Thursday and one of the rare times in the past few months that her husband was home for dinner during the campaigning season in which he had been trekking through all 82 counties to visit with voters.
The Coloms and their two elementary-aged daughters were enjoying their dinner at the table in their Columbus, Mississippi, house. Nadia Colom was about to tell her husband about her day when Scott Colom’s phone rings from a “No Caller ID” number. Apologizing to his family, he excused himself from the table to answer the call, unsure of who would be ringing him. The caller on the other end of the line was former Vice President Kamala Harris, who asked to campaign with him.
Nadia Colom heard her husband say, “Hi, Madam Vice President, how are you? I really appreciate you calling, but can I hand my wife, Nadia, the phone? She’s had a rough day. It looks like she needs a pick-me-up.”
Nadia said she was “floored” by the interaction between her husband and Harris.
“Scott could have kept that moment about himself. He could have kept that moment about the race, but it took it to notice me,” the wife said during a rally for her husband featuring Harris at Columbus High School on Oct. 23. “And that’s Scott. He pays attention. He makes room for other people, even when there’s a lot going on around him.”
Hundreds of people showed up to support Scott Colom and watch Harris speak at the local high school gymnasium. Many of the supporters waved navy and white campaign signs that said, “Pick a new senator,” “Colom for Senate,” and “Run through the tape” while cheering for Colom and Harris.
‘We Have the Ability to Do Something’
Scott Colom said many people had asked him why he was bringing Kamala Harris to Columbus specifically when she could have traveled to larger, metropolitan areas like Jackson, the Gulf Coast or DeSoto County.
“You know what I told them? ‘Why not?’” the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate said.
He said there was no more important place in his life than the city in which he grew up, the high school in which he gained his education and the community who enriched him and taught him “the values that matter.”
“Right now, we need leaders who understand Mississippi values, that are actually going (to) live the values that we are all raised with: taking care of our babies, doing right. Because right now, we’re dealing with record levels of corruption.”
Smiling, Colom hugged Harris as he welcomed her onto the stage of his alma mater.
Colom is nearing the end of a heated, bitter campaign against Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith that has featured allegations, insults and AI advertisements. Despite Mississippi long being considered a Republican stronghold for the U.S. Senate, national Democrats see hope in Colom’s campaign, and a number of prominent party members like U.S. Sen Cory Booker from New Jersey and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock from Georgia have campaigned with Colom in recent weeks. Former President Barack Obama filmed a supportive ad for Colom and Senate Democrats also launched a $1.2 million ad buy to assist Colom.
But Harris, America’s first woman vice president, is by far the biggest name to lend Colom support in person. She came to Clarksdale and Columbus to campaign with the Mississippi Democrat 12 days ahead of Election Day.
The former vice president opened her speech by saying she was in Columbus that night because “Mississippi matters,” she said. Colom has centered his campaign around that slogan, mobilizing voters to support him because he pledges to put Mississippians’ concerns, like high gas prices, the rising cost of living and failing healthcare systems, at the top of his priorities if elected as U.S. senator.
Harris mentioned these topics and emphasized the importance of this year’s midterm elections. With President Donald Trump, whom she called a “tyrant,” at the helm of the country, she said it is more important now than ever to flip Congress to have a Democratic majority so it can “be a check on the abuse of power.”
“We are 12 days out from an election, and it’s time to turn that anger into action. Turn that into action,” she repeated as the crowd cheered, “because that era, that phase of the last year and a half, that’s over. We have the ability to do something. We’ve been sitting back feeling like, ‘I can’t do anything about this. I’m feeling powerless. I’m feeling hopeless. I’m feeling alone.’ Don’t feel that way anymore.”
When the Founding Fathers drafted the Constitution, Harris said they had a premonition that, “There would be an abuse of power and the corruption that we are witnessing,” which is why they created the three, coequal branches of government. But she said Americans cannot rely on the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts to push back on Trump, so it is up to voters to elect representatives and senators who will. She said Colom would be a key piece of the “checks and balances” puzzle.
Before Harris was vice president, she represented California in the U.S. Senate. She recalled the closed-door discussions she had with her colleagues at the U.S. Capitol regarding Medicaid, Medicare, housing and education resources.
“When you have a voice like (Colom’s) in that room, just think about the impact that’s going to have on the decisions coming out that room. Think about that. This is no ordinary time, and this is no ordinary man. So, let’s take these next 12 days and do everything in our power, every minute and hour and moment we have, let’s remind people of their power. The power is with the people and the people are with Scott,” the former vice president exclaimed as people cheered when Colom walked back on stage to take a selfie with her and the crowd. Harris and attendees chanted, “We want Scott” repeatedly for more than 30 seconds.
‘He’s Picked up the Phone’
Columbus Mayor Stephen Jones; attorney Damonta Morgan whom Colom mentored; Deputy District Attorney Collen Hudson, who currently works alongside Colom in the 16th Circuit Court District; American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations Mississippi chapter President Mickey Carr; University of Mississippi College Democrats President Mike Kavanaugh and Kingdom Vision Church Apostle RJ Matthews gave speeches filled with support for Colom at the rally.
Morgan grew up poor in the Delta and attended his last two years of high school at the Mississippi School for Math and Science in Columbus, where he competed on the Mock Trial team. At the time, Colom was a practicing attorney and served as a Lowndes County justice court judge. He and his wife, Nadia, had not yet married.
“I had nothing to offer him. All I could do was ask,” Morgan said at the rally. “I couldn’t vote, I couldn’t donate money, I couldn’t open a single door for him, and in the cold math of politics, I was nothing. But Scott never did that math. He saw a kid who needed mentorship, and he decided that I was worth his time.”
The Coloms took Morgan under their wing, feeding him and giving him a place to stay on the weekends when MSMS mandated students to leave campus. Morgan is now a practicing attorney at Forman Watkins & Krutz LLP in Jackson.
“You know that there isn’t a call that Scott’s not going to take because somebody in this room has called him on a hard day or had a hard hour, and he’s picked up the phone,” Morgan said. “He’s supported you when you’ve gotten difficult news—maybe you have lost a loved one or when you simply needed a listening ear—and he didn’t ask for anything in return. Now, think about that. Think about this man, who listens and takes every single call. And then think about what we currently have. A senator who hasn’t had a town hall in six years. That’s a whole Senate term where she’s not spoken to her constituents.”
President Donald Trump is scheduled to come to Corinth, Mississippi, on Oct. 26 to campaign with incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom has been critical of her refusal to debate Colom ahead of the election, and he has expressed eagerness for her to face voters about her priorities to help Mississippians.
“He’s coming to Mississippi on Monday, y’all,” Colom said as the crowd booed, but the Democrat dismissed the negative reactions by saying, “We welcome him. We welcome him because my thing is, it’s time to debate. I want to debate him. Cindy High Prices won’t debate, so maybe he will, because we have questions.”
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