Now ahead by 2,536 votes, MS Dem Colom thinks he will win

[0:00] Democrat Scott Colombe currently leads Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,536 votes. [0:07] And Scott Colombe joins me now. Appreciate you being here. What's the latest you know about [0:12] how many votes are outstanding? And I know in the last couple of days, I've heard you say, [0:17] you know, you know where the votes are and the districts are coming from and you feel good that [0:22] they are going to be favoring you. Where do you think things stand now? [0:27] Well, we're really just waiting for Hines County to finish during that county. [0:33] And my understanding is they're going to be finished by Wednesday morning and then it's going to all be over [0:37] because, as I said, the Wednesday morning after the election, I followed Mississippi politics. [0:43] It always, the affidavit and absentee ballots always treated Democratic. [0:47] I knew that there were a lot of ballots out in Hines County. And if you look at what happened on Election Day, [0:53] a lot of those ballots were going to be for me. And it's time to start focusing on the people of Mississippi. [0:58] I'm ready to serve as their next United States Senator. [1:02] What is it you think you were able to do that other, I mean, no one else has done for a very, [1:07] very long time in Mississippi? [1:11] Well, one, I went out in our campaign. I did over 60 town halls. I went to the music festivals. [1:16] I went to the housing projects. And that motivated people to actually take action on their sales. [1:21] You know, there was a great Washington Post story about a woman in Holmes County, Mississippi [1:26] that got so excited about this campaign that she started canvassing and doing voter registration [1:32] and getting young people to vote. I never talked to that young lady. She did that all on her own. [1:36] And so when I tell people that this is something that people of Mississippi did, [1:40] those are the examples. We were tired of the betrayals. We were tired of the corruption. [1:45] And I had the courage to run on Mississippi values and a vision for the people of Mississippi. [1:49] And that's why we got the momentum to win. [1:52] You also, I mean, you were very smart. And like the commercials you were putting out were really clever. [1:58] Some of them were really funny. I want to play a campaign video you put out last month [2:01] on social media, which addressed high grocery prices. Let's take a look. [2:07] The price of beef continuing to go up. [2:09] You know, you have so many proteins to choose from. [2:11] Pick another protein? Shit. I'd rather pick another senator instead. [2:16] Pick another protein? She done lost her damn mind. [2:21] I'd rather pick another senator. [2:24] Pick another protein? What the? [2:28] Pick another senator instead. [2:31] I mean, it's one of the great ads that I've seen. [2:36] I mean, how much of your strong showing do you think was due to that [2:43] and kind of other really just, you know, fun, interesting, clever advertising you were doing? [2:50] A lot of it was because of that. I knew at the very beginning of this campaign [2:53] that we're going to have to figure out how to get young people's attention [2:57] and get the attention of people that don't necessarily pay attention to politics, right? [3:02] You can't really advertise to them. [3:04] You know, knocking on their door may be difficult because they move a lot. [3:07] But, you know, they're on social media and they don't want a normal politician. [3:11] They want somebody that feels authentic. [3:12] And so I kept trying different ways to get their attention, and we did a lot of cool videos. [3:18] The other thing I would say that's important for people that want to win tough races like we're about to do [3:24] is I also rely on a lot of Mississippi talent. [3:27] You know, my content creator, Ryan Sales, my other content creator, KP, my brother, Andrew. [3:31] It was a lot of Mississippi people that understood the vibes for our state [3:36] and how to get people's attention in our state, and I think that made a difference [3:39] because everywhere I go now, they all tell me, I'm glad we picked another senator. [3:44] Well, your lead just keeps growing as we have been waiting and watching. [3:49] Scott Colombe, appreciate you joining us tonight. Thanks so much. [3:53] Thank you so much, Anderson. God bless. [3:55] Key race alert for you. [3:56] We are closely watching those razor-thin margins in Mississippi. [4:00] Democrat Scott Colombe is holding on to his narrow lead over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith [4:06] by just over 2,500 votes. [4:09] Today, very important one in the Magnolia State. [4:12] It is the deadline for voters to resolve any issues on provisional ballots they cast. [4:18] It's also the deadline for counties to receive absentee ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day. [4:25] CNN's Annie Greer is in Jackson, Mississippi. [4:28] I know you followed one person whose address was confusing, who was very upset that his vote might not be counted. [4:35] What are you learning about this count today? [4:37] As everyone is watching, do we have any idea, for example, how many votes are still out there? [4:46] Well, Sarah, we're here at the Hines County Election Office, [4:48] where shortly election officials are going to start counting the remainder of the absentee ballots. [4:53] Because, as you mentioned, today is the final deadline to get those returned. [4:57] And that could be really significant because we've been waiting for this last batch of absentee ballots to be counted. [5:03] The Secretary of State says there's just over 2,000 outstanding absentee ballots left in the state. [5:09] But there's also thousands of provisional ballots, known as affidavit ballots. [5:13] And I've talked to a number of voters who have had issues with their ballots. [5:18] One voter went to the polling location that they had voted in the last two elections [5:22] and all of a sudden found out that he was no longer registered in the poll book [5:26] and was registered in another county he hadn't lived in for six years. [5:30] These are the kinds of stories that people in the state are experiencing across the state. [5:34] And it's putting the Mississippi Secretary of State's actions under scrutiny here [5:39] because in the last year, he used credit card data to try and clean up the voter rolls. [5:44] And many are accusing the Secretary of State of making that be a sort of purge or disenfranchising voters. [5:50] Secretary of State's office very much standing behind his decision, [5:53] saying that he is doing everything he can to make this vote as accessible as possible. [5:58] And that's why these provisional ballots exist, [6:00] to give voters the opportunity to correct any issues in the system. [6:04] But Democrat Scott Colombs says that as more ballots come in, [6:07] he's confident that his lead is only going to grow. [6:10] Take a listen to what he said on Anderson Cooper last night. [6:14] We're really just waiting for Hines County to finish during that county. [6:18] And my understanding is they're going to be finished by Wednesday morning, [6:21] and then it's going to all be over. [6:23] Because, as I said, the Wednesday morning after the election, [6:26] I followed Mississippi politics. [6:28] It always, the affidavit, the affidavit ballots always treated Democratic. [6:31] I knew that there were a lot of ballots out in Hines County. [6:36] And if you look at what happened on Election Day, [6:38] a lot of those ballots are going to be for me. [6:40] And it's time to start focusing on the people of Mississippi. [6:43] I'm ready to serve as the next United States Senator. [6:46] Now, we haven't heard much from Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, [6:53] but she did tell our colleagues on the Hill yesterday that she wants every vote to be counted. [6:58] Republicans have deployed 50 lawyers across the state in case there is a legal battle. [7:02] Democrats are also prepared to fight back if there is any sort of legal challenge. [7:06] But today is a huge day in Mississippi where we might see some more key results. [7:11] And the building behind me is where it's all the action is going to be happening. [7:14] We are watching and waiting. [7:17] I know you have been there throughout trying to be there for the moment that this is decided. [7:22] Annie Greer, thank you so much for your reporting there from Jackson, Mississippi. [7:25] Incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith has been largely absent from public view since election night on Capitol Hill today. [7:32] She told reporters the votes were still being counted, [7:34] but she refused to say if she would go to court for a recount if she ultimately loses. [7:39] Our panel is back. [7:40] Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Katie Porter. [7:43] Steve, it's not good when the Republicans are potentially losing Mississippi. [7:47] How does that happen? [7:49] I know. [7:49] How does that happen? [7:50] I know. [7:51] That's why it's like, oh, Steve, you lost your race in California. [7:54] Well, come on. [7:56] Mississippi, Texas. [7:58] It's an amazing development. [8:00] I think there are some local factors there. [8:01] There was one particular story about how she responded to something that turned into, [8:06] I think we were just talking about, one of the best ads of the whole season. [8:11] She said, eat a different protein. [8:13] And then he turned that into an ad. [8:15] But I think it's an indication that she's just not a good candidate and somewhat accidentally became a senator. [8:23] She was appointed into the role, did not have to run statewide to get the job, eventually ran statewide in Mississippi, where there wasn't much competition. [8:32] And he seems like quite an extraordinary candidate, especially in terms of working. [8:36] And I think she's a very weak candidate. [8:38] And as you said, hasn't really had to compete. [8:41] And I think he was a pretty extraordinary candidate. [8:44] And so I think it took the one-two punch. [8:46] I think we saw this same thing play out in Texas, where I think Tallarico ran a very good race. [8:51] Yeah. [8:51] Ken Paxton was a terrible candidate. [8:54] I think we saw the same thing in South Carolina, where I think Annie Andrews ran a very solid, good race. [8:59] She's run a couple times. [9:01] She's gotten better each time. [9:02] And Darlene Graham was not ready for the school board, much less the United States Senate. [9:07] So I think when you have a wave this big, and you're doing it sort of right and wrong from both sides, you have both sides kind of helping. [9:15] So bad Republican candidate, good Democratic candidate. [9:18] When the wave's big enough, you win even in these surprising places. [9:21] And both Texas and South Carolina hand-picked candidates from President Trump. [9:25] Without his involvement, there very well could have been other candidates running in those races who had more experiences to run.