BARTRANIZED STUDIO

Scott Colom is almost certainly going to be Mississippi’s junior United States Senator. His lead has steadily grown as affidavits have been counted. This isn’t Magnolia Tribune making a call. Just Russ being honest. Democrats had a stellar night Tuesday and Scott’s team ran an objectively good (very well financed) campaign. In my limited interactions with Scott, he seems smart, well-humored and reasonable. While I have my doubts about anything but impeachment hearings and investigations getting done in the next two years, my hope is that he’ll represent Mississippi’s interests and people well. I’ve seen a lot of people run down Senator Hyde-Smith. I don’t think that’s fair. Every conversation I’ve ever had with the Senator has been engaging. She clearly loves Mississippi, has worked hard to represent us and in my estimation has done well by the state. Whether people realize it or not, she did a lot to maneuver against, and sometimes stop, bad agriculture policy that hurt Mississippi farmers. She also was a steady vote on big policies that matter to Mississippi workers. Your taxes would be substantially higher, your standard deduction and child care credits substantially lower without those votes. It’s impossible to judge the outcome in Mississippi in a vacuum. States like South Carolina, Texas, Kansas, and Iowa flipping — in more emphatic fashion than Mississippi — is proof positive that something larger than any one senator or her challenger was afoot. I’ve spoken to that elsewhere. But the days of just saying “I’m the Republican and they’re the Democrat” as the final word in an election in these states is over.