Ty Pinkins holding a microphone and speaking
Ty Pinkins, independent candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks at a candidate forum in Vicksburg, Miss., on Oct. 29, 2026. MFP Photo by Heather HarrisonĀ 

Independent candidate Ty Pinkins, who ran as Mississippi Democrats’ U.S. Senate nominee in a prior election, said on CNN that his campaign drew more votes from Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith than from Democrat Scott Colom and that he hopes Colom wins. “I’m happy we drew votes from Cindy Hyde-Smith.”

He notes that his best counties were Republican-leaning counties. He has 2% of the vote, even as Colom leads Hyde-Smith by just 65 votes.

Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryantā€™s unusual work with ā€œThe Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.