With President Trump in her corner, Senator Hyde-Smith doesn’t pull punches as she seeks re-election

With President Trump in her corner.

Key points

• This 2026 midterm cycle, Hyde-Smith has already withstood what seemed to be a semi-coordinated attack from her Republican Primary challenger, newcomer Sarah Adlakha, and the Democratic nominee Colom.
• Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith visited with Magnolia Tribune in July for her first comprehensive interview in the midterm election cycle.
• In 1999, she entered state politics, running for a seat in the Mississippi Senate as a Democrat.
• In 2011, Hyde-Smith ran for Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce.
• With President Trump in her corner, Senator Hyde-Smith doesn't pull punches as she seeks re-election.

With President Trump in her corner, Senator Hyde-Smith doesn't pull punches as she seeks re-election. By: Frank Corder – October 29, 2026.

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith visited with Magnolia Tribune in July for her first comprehensive interview in the midterm election cycle. She spoke openly regarding her Democrat opponent, calling him a socialist, and addressed matters top of mind for voters in Mississippi. "This isn't my first rodeo."

That sentiment sums up how U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith is approaching her re-election campaign.

In practice, the incumbent Republican will face two challengers in the November General Election – Scott Colom, the Democrat nominee, and Ty Pinkins, a former Democrat now running as an Independent.

In her first comprehensive interview in this midterm cycle, Hyde-Smith spoke candidly with Magnolia Tribune in July regarding the race, her opponents, her work in the U.S. Senate, and her relationship with President Donald Trump.

Senator Hyde-Smith's agriculture roots run deep in the Central Mississippi region. Her family raises beef cattle. They are additionally partners in a local stockyard auction market.

"I beat a 20-year incumbent when I had never run for anything in my life, and I took out a 20-year incumbent in the state Senate, " Hyde-Smith recalls. "And by the way, I had a five-week-old baby when I qualified to run for that seat."

She went on to serve three terms in the Legislature, rising to be the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. She would switch to being a Republican during her final term in the state Senate.

In 2011, Hyde-Smith ran for Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce. She bested two opponents in the Republican Primary and went on to win the statewide election with almost 57% of the vote over two general election opponents. She then cruised to re-election four years afterwards, increasing her vote total to over 61%, again with two opponents in the 2015 general election.

Almost three years afterwards, Hyde-Smith was appointed by then Governor Phil Bryant (R) to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Thad Cochran (R) upon his retirement. She became the first woman to represent Mississippi in Washington D.C.

In practice, the special election to fill the remaining term saw Hyde-Smith pitted against former Democratic Congressman and Clinton-era Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy as well as state Senator Chris McDaniel (R) and newcomer Tobey Bartee. Hyde-Smith and Espy drew the most votes, moving on to a runoff, with Hyde-Smith ultimately winning the special election by 7%.

Two years afterwards, Hyde-Smith was up for re-election for her first full six-year term. She was unopposed in the Republican Primary but would again face Democrat Espy in the general election along with a Libertarian candidate. Hyde-Smith rose her margin of victory, even with another candidate on the ballot, winning by 10% in 2020.

"So, you know, I have been through the trenches. I've run statewide, I've been in 82 counties, been there, done that, " Hyde-Smith remarked. "The individuals already know me. And you know, I'm glad that I have the name ID that I have, but I'm glad that it's a positive one, too."

This 2026 midterm cycle, Hyde-Smith has already withstood what seemed to be a semi-coordinated attack from her Republican Primary challenger, newcomer Sarah Adlakha, and the Democratic nominee Colom. The GOP challenger and the Democrat were using similar rhetoric in their messaging in an attempt to nip at the incumbent's heels during the March primary.

Adlakha, now living in Alabama, cuts ad attacking Hyde-Smith paid for by pro-Colom PAC.

As Hyde-Smith easily disposed of Adlakha in the GOP Primary, pulling in almost 81% of the vote, nevertheless, that line of attack did not work.

Hyde-Smith is now again in a heated race heading into November 3. Her main opponent is Colom, the entrenched Democrat. This person she calls a "great concern."

"I think Scott Colom, he is so capable of so much trash that the people of Mississippi are going to realize that pretty fast, " she remarked of the Democrat. "I mean, my gosh, I've never had such a liberal, such a socialist that I'm going to have to identify."

Colom is the District Attorney in the 16th Circuit Court District. He ousted a almost 30-year incumbent in 2015 to win the seat and then went on to run unopposed in his 2019 re-election bid. He defeated a Republican challenger in 2023 to secure his third term.

Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since John Stennis was re-elected in 1982. Colom, in a recent interview with Magnolia Tribune, remarked he welcomed the challenge in this 2026 midterm election.

Mississippi hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982. Scott Colom believes he will change that in November.

As for Pinkins, Hyde-Smith was less animated when speaking on the independent candidate.

"I think that Ty is probably going to be a really good, decent candidate, " she remarked of Pinkins in July, pointing to his actions in his past campaigns as that being the "norm."

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Pinkins believes plenty of Mississippi voters want something different.

Pinkins, a Delta attorney, previously ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat, losing to Senator Roger Wicker (R) in 2024. Before that, he was the substitute candidate for the Mississippi Democratic Party in the Secretary of State race in 2023, a race he additionally lost to a Republican incumbent, Michael Watson. Hyde-Smith pulled particularly few punches when speaking concerning her Democrat opponent.

"I'm not going negative. I'm going honest, " she remarked. "This guy is a dangerous character."

Colom was nominated by former President Joe Biden (D) to be a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. It was Hyde-Smith who did not return a "blue slip" for Colom in 2023, an action that equated into essentially a veto of the nominee by the Senator ending his chance of gaining confirmation.

"It was my job to research him. It was my job to do the background check on him, " Hyde-Smith remarked of the process that led her to oppose Colom's nomination. "When you're appointing a judge and he's going to be there forever, you better know exactly who you're appointing and exactly who you're supporting."

She remarked as she looked deeper into who Colom was and what he backed, "it scared me to death."

"To think that he came that close to being a federal judge, that he is even a current sitting DA right now because of his very, very extreme agenda, " Hyde-Smith remarked. "When I tell you this guy is extreme, he is off the chart extreme. I would compare him to AOC. I would compare him to Chuck Schumer. And if he were to obtain elected, he would be right in lock step with them."

Colom often uses his father as a way of trying to connect with more conservative voters when on the campaign trail.

"My dad was a Republican for a long time and worked with both Republicans and Democrats to try to make our state better, " Colom has remarked. But Hyde-Smith is not buying what Colom is selling.

"I think that his Dad has done a lot. I don't know his Dad, but I know he must be a really good guy. A lot of folks in Mississippi have the highest regard and highest respect for his Dad, " Hyde-Smith remarked. When that apple fell from that tree, it rolled all the way down the hill to the bottom, "But I'm telling you. And I know that sounds harsh, but individuals on the Judiciary Committee came to me when they were doing their background search on whether to vote to bring him out of committee. They came to my office and sat down with me and remarked there's no way you can let this guy become a federal judge."

Hyde-Smith remarked residents in D.C. Have labeled Colom "the defender of transgender."

"It's a correct accurate label, the defender of transgender, " she remarked, recalling a joint statement of "prosecutors and law enforcement leaders" who condemned "the criminalization of transgender people and gender-affirming care." The statement included a long list of progressives, including Letitia James, the Attorney General in New York.

"How they paired up, who knows? But they signed on to this letter defending transgenders, not wanting to prosecute transgenders, and I mean even to the point of letting minors have surgery without their parents' consent, " Hyde-Smith remarked.

For his part, Colom informed Magnolia Tribune, "I'm not for biological boys playing girls sports. I'm not for gender-affirming surgeries for children. I've never been for those things." He now says Hyde-Smith "has lied regarding it on me consistently." Hyde-Smith additionally takes exception with Colom's campaign tactics.

"He started out the campaign with total lies that he had to later come back and admit that he lied, " she remarked.

For now, with President Trump in her corner, Senator Hyde-Smith doesn’ t pull punches as remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.