COLUMBUS, Miss. — Mississippi’s Senate race has drawn a late burst of national attention, with President Donald Trump campaigning for Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and former Vice President Kamala Harris rallying supporters for Democratic challenger Scott Colom less than two weeks before Election Day. The race pits Colom, a district attorney, against Hyde-Smith in a state Republicans have dominated in recent presidential elections. Trump won Mississippi by 23 percentage points in 2024. Black residents make up close to 40% of the state’s electorate, but the state’s sharply polarized voting patterns have made it difficult for Democrats to win statewide. Colom says national Democrats have too often written off Mississippi. “The Democratic Party has not been trying to win Mississippi,” he said at a rally in his hometown of Columbus on Oct. 22, where about 1,000 people gathered to hear him and Harris. “They spent hundreds of millions of dollars in other states. They spent almost nothing in Mississippi.” Harris urged the crowd to turn its frustration with the Trump administration into votes. Attendees cited high fuel costs, the war in Iran and dissatisfaction with the administration as reasons they wanted political change. One rallygoer, Celestine Rice, said voters were increasingly concerned about the country’s direction and the influence of wealthy interests. Trump appeared in Corinth on Oct. 26 to rally for Hyde-Smith, who said the election offered a choice between capitalism and socialism, and urged Republicans not to take victory for granted. Trump likewise warned supporters that assuming Hyde-Smith would win could keep them from voting. Hyde-Smith’s campaign has portrayed Colom as too far left for Mississippi. An ad calling him “the most radical Senate candidate in our lifetime” accused him of being beholden to the left and claimed violent crime doubled while he served as district attorney. The campaign has spent more than $1.3 million on that advertisement, according to AdImpact data cited in the report. Democrats have spent about $5 million on Mississippi advertising this month, compared with roughly $3.2 million by Republicans, with Democratic messaging linking Hyde-Smith to an unpopular president. Colom says voters are ready to remove the incumbent; Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, Jake Monssen, said the senator and Trump have a strong working relationship and expressed confidence in her reelection. The contest also highlights the role of Black voters in Southern politics. Colom has criticized efforts by Republican-led states to redraw electoral maps, arguing that map changes can shift power away from voters. Mississippi Republicans have indicated they may pursue changes to state legislative and judicial districts after the midterms. The historical hurdles for Colom are steep: Mississippi has not elected a Democratic U.S. senator since the early 1980s, and Hyde-Smith won the seat’s 2018 special election by about seven points, even during a national Democratic wave. The race will test whether heightened turnout and anti-incumbent sentiment can overcome those advantages when voters cast ballots Nov. 3.