NERMEEN SHAIKH: We begin today’s show in Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in a stunning upset. Colom is set to become the state’s first Democratic senator in 44 years and Mississippi’s first Black senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction. Colom’s election after three years — comes three years after Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s nomination to a federal judgeship. In 2024, President Trump won Mississippi by nearly 23 points.

AMY GOODMAN: On Wednesday, Scott Colom gave his victory speech at the historically Black Tougaloo College. He spoke just miles from where civil rights activist Medgar Evers was murdered in 1963 by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

SEN.-ELECT SCOTT COLOM: God bless you. For me, this journey started with a prayer, y’all. And in the Mississippi, our prayers have often changed the course of history.

For people that don’t know, the first African American to be a United States senator was from the great state of Mississippi. His name was Hiram Revels. And the way he got to be a United States senator was he was a minister in Natchez, Mississippi. He was elected to be in the state House, and when they were trying to figure out who was going to do the opening prayer, someone suggested Hiram Revels. He gave a prayer that was so powerful that people at that convention decided that he had a voice to be United States senator. That’s an example of the power of prayer.

And throughout our history, there are so many people that lifted this state up through the power of prayer in very dark times. But we all know that prayer is only a part of our Mississippi faith tradition. You need faith.

And I’ll tell you, throughout this campaign, there were many times where I had to have faith. There were times that I couldn’t get donors to answer the phone; they did not believe a moment like this was possible. But I kept the faith. There were times when I did my first town hall in Jackson, Mississippi. Frank Figgers helped me organize it. Less than 10 people showed up. But I kept the faith. I kept the faith. There were times when I was tired, and I felt like I couldn’t keep going. But I kept the faith.

And that is another tradition of our state. There’s so many people that had faith in Mississippi at times where it seemed impossible, people like Medgar Evers. I can’t help but think about Medgar Evers on Veterans Day, a moment like this, where he served his country and came home to Mississippi, when they wouldn’t let him vote. But he had faith that Mississippi could make progress. He had faith that one day everybody would have the right to vote. He had faith that a day like this was possible. God bless you, Medgar. God bless you, Medgar. God bless you.

When you talk about faith, you can’t forget Fannie Lou Hamer, who had faith that her being sick and tired could move a nation to understand that places like Mississippi have to matter, who had faith that even after she became a national celebrity and she could have gone anywhere in the world, she came right back to Mississippi. She had faith, y’all. And right now we have several veterans of the civil rights movement who are a part of her tradition of faith. Let’s please give them a round of applause, y’all.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Scott Colom, Mississippi’s newly elected Democratic senator.