Why Colom's victory in Mississippi changes the whole political playbook

[0:00] Simone, while we wait for Scott Cologne to come back, to come on and speak, all of us have spoken with him and have interviewed him, but you know him on a personal level. Tell us about who he is and what he's like. [0:12] You know, I met Scott Cologne late last year, I do believe, after hearing, frankly, about him from friends that I knew, folks here in Mississippi. Trey Baker, I believe, was the first person to tell me, hey, you got to take a look at my friend Scott. He's running for Senate. [0:30] And after meeting Scott and his campaign manager, whom I knew, who worked for Senator Angela Alsobrooks, the first senator, I will add, that came down to Mississippi to campaign with now Senator-elect Cologne, he seemed very convincing. [0:46] So what I actually did, Jen, is I continued to follow this race, but I talked to my folks on the ground. [0:51] And I have to tell you, the organizers in this state, people have to give it up for the organizers. [0:56] I'm talking about folks like Joaquinia Clanton at the Mississippi Southern Poverty Law Center. [1:02] I'm talking about, obviously, the NAACP, the Mississippi Conference, and the National NAACP. [1:07] Mississippi votes. [1:08] The students, students are such a big part of the work that has happened here across this state. [1:14] And it was really their work, frankly, and my conversations with them and their resolve that let me know, oh, something was going on here in Mississippi. [1:24] Personally, my father is originally from Mississippi. [1:27] He was born in Mount Bayou, and he grew up in Clarksdale. [1:30] We were here about two weeks ago to bury his mother and my grandmother. [1:34] And I spent summers for 15, 16 years coming to Mississippi every summer, doing the drive, hanging out here, being with my cousins for weeks on end. [1:44] And I have to tell you, my father, he graduated from Higgins High School, and he was the last segregated class at Higgins High School, a high school that is no longer operable in Clarksdale, Mississippi. [1:58] And my father is no longer with us. [2:00] But I have to imagine that not even he thought he would see any time sooner that I would even see a black senator elected from the state of Mississippi, let alone other places throughout the South. [2:12] And I just have to say that this, to me, is a testament to the power of the people. [2:19] And, frankly, it's a wake-up call for everyone that did not believe, people that did laugh it off, folks that did not pay attention. [2:26] And I think they have to ask themselves, why did Mississippi or Florida seem so far off and far-fetched to you, or Louisiana? [2:34] Again, the Democratic candidate in Louisiana came within two points of winning with zero national investment. [2:38] Why did those races feel so far off for people, yet Texas and Kansas and Alaska did not? [2:44] And so to the people in this state, to the black people in Mississippi and all across the South, that in the face of being told that they did not earn it, that they were all DEI hires, that their livelihoods were not worth it, trying to be literally snatched back to the 1950s, they stood up and they asserted their power and they said, not today. [3:04] I think America owes a debt of gratitude to the people that have stood in these communities and continue to fight. [3:12] And I will note, the fight is not over. [3:13] It's just beginning. [3:15] Yeah, that's such an important part of it. [3:17] Chris and I were talking earlier. [3:19] I want to bring back. [3:19] He's still here. [3:20] Thank you, Chris. [3:22] It feels like the playbook, to your point you made earlier, is thrown out or should be thrown out in terms of – and this is such a good thing for our democracy in terms of how people look at what's possible. [3:33] And I've been thinking, as Simone's been talking and as you were talking earlier, just about places like Georgia, where Stacey Abrams organized for a long time before you saw the election of Raphael Warnock, of course, who did that to his own accord and through campaigning all across the state. [3:49] This is a state where the party and all the organization has been building for some time. [3:54] I guess I would love you to talk more about what you think about where the playbook goes from here. [3:59] Well, yeah, and I was – it sounds funny. [4:01] I was going back and looking at those – there were three real close races in Mississippi. [4:07] So that special election, Mike Espy ran a really good race against Cindy Hyde-Smith and came within a few thousand votes. [4:18] There were two gubernatorial statewide races that were really contested. [4:21] I mean, Tate Reeves has been scandal-prone. [4:23] There was the Jackson water crisis. [4:26] There was the insane welfare crisis in which money was diverted from social services to go build a gym at Brett Favre's daughter's university, state university. [4:38] I mean, truly, truly crazy stuff. [4:40] So, you know, there have been contested races. [4:42] And one of the things I think is so interesting to think about, Simone, here as well is, you know, there's a gubernatorial race in Mississippi next year now. [4:51] And all of a sudden, like, you've got a sitting Democratic senator. [4:55] That sitting Democratic senator can go and barnstorm around the state with that person. [5:01] Next door in Louisiana, you've got a candidate that lost by 25,000 votes. [5:05] Two points, as you said, Simone, but 25,000 votes with no national investment. [5:08] John Kennedy, the sitting Republican senator from Louisiana, is up in two years. [5:14] Jamie Davis just came within 25,000 votes. [5:17] Like, I don't know, man. [5:18] Probably should put some investment over there. [5:21] So, you know, what you hope you see here is that, you know, success breeds success. [5:26] Investment breeds investment, right? [5:29] Now that you know it's possible, we have absolutely seen that trajectory in Georgia. [5:32] I mean, that has been what has happened in Georgia 100 percent once the breakthrough actually happened in 2020. [5:39] It's also been the case in Arizona. [5:41] And I'm not saying that, like, oh, you just draw a straight line and now Mississippi is a Democratic state. [5:45] But we've seen it in Georgia. [5:47] We've seen it in Arizona. [5:48] I mean, Arizona is going to have a Democratic trifecta. [5:50] Arizona is like, you know, Arizona was the Western version of Mississippi in the sense of, like, it was the most right-wing state in the Mountain West, famously the home of Barry Goldwater, like, completely hostile to the Democratic Party and progressive politics. [6:04] And things can change. [6:07] Yeah. [6:07] I think that governor's race next year is going to be a fascinating one to watch. [6:12] And I just would echo your point about investments. [6:16] I mean, you think and I heard from so many people during the campaign who felt like they could win if they just had more money. [6:22] I know Simone did, too. [6:23] Everybody did. [6:24] And now here we are, everybody. [6:26] So start looking at these races for next year. [6:28] There's lots of opportunities. [6:29] Hey, it's Rachel. 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