Trump called Democrat Scott Colom a ‘shameless phony’ before Mississippi voted, then made a surprising admission after Colom won

President Trump shared his thoughts regarding the recent Mississippi Senate race results, offering a surprising nod to the winner, Scott Colom. Even though the election outcome caught many people off guard, the President gave credit to the Democrat for his work in reaching out to voters who traditionally back the Republican Party.

As reported by The Hill, Trump spoke about the race during an interview at the White House with Stephen A. Smith. He admitted that he does not know the senator-elect personally but was impressed by the campaign tactics used on the ground. 

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

The victory was unexpected 

This strategy centered on a video that quickly spread across social media. Just days before Election Day, Colom went to the President’s rally in Corinth, Mississippi. He walked among the people waiting to enter the event and asked them which issues were most important to their lives. In the footage, voters shared concerns about high prices. Some attendees also spoke about their opposition to the tariffs and the war in Iran. 

The final results were a major surprise, as Mississippi is a state that Trump won by 23 points in 2024. Decision Desk HQ projected that Colom defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by a margin of about half a percentage point. 

This victory was unexpected for many, especially since the pre-election forecast from Decision Desk HQ gave Colom only a 9 percent chance of winning. The race required more than a week of counting affidavit ballots and late-arriving votes before the winner became clear.

Hyde-Smith reportedly previously blocked Colom from getting a confirmation hearing in 2023 when he was nominated by then-President Biden to be a federal judge. Now, Colom has prevented Hyde-Smith from securing a second full term in the Senate.

This win is a significant milestone in state history. Scott Colom is the first Black senator elected by popular vote in Mississippi. He is only the third Black senator in the state’s history, with the other two serving as appointees from the legislature during the Reconstruction era. 

Trump held a rally in Mississippi to support Hyde-Smith during the final stretch of the campaign. Even with the loss, the President maintains that his absence from the ballot was the reason for the defeat. He told voters many times to pretend he was on the ballot, but he continues to insist that the results would have been different if he were actually running.