President Trump said he gives Sen.-elect Scott Colom (D-MS) “a lot of credit” for campaigning on lines at his rally in his shocking election victory.

“There’s a black U.S. senator in the State of Mississippi for the first time since Reconstruction Mr. President,” Stephen A. Smith told Trump.

“I don’t know the gentleman, but I give him credit,” Trump said.

“And you know what he did? He campaigned on lines. I give him a lot of credit for this. He campaigned on lines,” Trump continued.

“I heard it the other day, where I had a rally there, and we had lines that went 10 miles long, and he campaigned on that line, telling everybody in the line what a good job he did. I give him a lot of credit for that,” he added.

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The Hill shared further:

Colom’s campaign released a now-viral video on social media of him at Trump’s rally in Corinth, Miss., just days ahead of Election Day, in which he approached voters waiting to get into the president’s event and asked them which issues mattered most to them.

In the clip, many supporters cited high prices as key issue impacting their choices at the polls, though some openly expressed opposition to Trump’s war in Iran and tariffs. As of Thursday night, the video had nearly 239,000 views on Facebook and around 555,000 on Instagram.

After more than a week of counting late-arriving and affidavit ballots, Colom pulled off what was previously unthinkable: winning as a Democrat in Mississippi, a state Trump won by 23 points in 2024. The Hill’s election results partner, Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), projected Wednesday Colom had defeated Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) by a margin of around half a point.

The victory was a major upset for Colom, who had just a 9 percent chance of beating Hyde-Smith in DDHQ’s pre-election forecast.

While the victory is a shock to many political observers, there were some indications of a competitive race ahead of Election Day. In the final stretch of the campaign, Trump rallied primarily in historically Republican states and districts, including in the Magnolia State for Hyde-Smith.

“I walked the Trump rally line to listen, not make assumptions. I talked with voters, asked questions and heard what matters to them,” Colom wrote in the October 31 post.

“When I’m elected, I’ll represent all 82 counties and every Mississippian, no matter who they voted for. That’s what being your senator means,” he added.

The viral video has 2.7 million views.

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The move gained widespread media attention, stealing the spotlight from Trump’s barnstorming in Mississippi, a state Republicans had expected to easily win.

It also tracked with Colom’s strategy throughout the campaign of criticizing Trump’s policies — especially the Iran war that drove up gas prices and tariffs that caused headaches for Mississippi farmers — without taking personal jabs at the president or people who voted for him. Colom had sought to portray Hyde-Smith as a nonentity in Washington, while vowing that he would look out for the interests of people in his state.

 

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