On the menu today: You may be wondering how the Republicans could be at risk of losing a Senate seat in Mississippi. The state hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, and in 2024, Trump won the state with more than 60 percent of the vote. Before this year, the last Democratic statewide win in Mississippi was in 2015, when incumbent Democrat Jim Hood — who had been the only statewide elected Democrat in Mississippi since 2008 — won reelection as state attorney general to a fourth term.
As of this writing, 96 percent of the vote in the state is counted, Democratic challenger Scott Colom has 464,926 votes, and incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith has 463,788 votes — a margin of 1,138 votes. The state has no recount provision. And let’s get the obvious joke out of the way: The vote count is taking so long because after every number, they have to say the name of the state.
Mississippi Counting
Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith was appointed to her seat in 2018 to replace Thad Cochran, won a 2018 special election, and was elected to a full term in 2020, with 54 percent to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy’s 44 percent.
On February 22, Hyde-Smith sat down for an interview with Hugh Keeton of the Biloxi-based television station WLOX.
“The price of food is high. We just did a story this week on the price of beef continuing to go up,” Keeton said. “What are Republicans doing to get the cost of living under control?”
I’m going to give you the full transcript of her answer, because the Democrats, understandably, focused on one sentence:
Well, the good thing is we passed what we call the One Big Beautiful Bill. There are so many things in there. Just the child tax credits, that will affect 40 million families. There are all the reduction to make the cuts permanent. It is so many opportunities there that once they go into play, just with getting your tax refund in 2026 is going to be bigger. And once we can get those things implemented, you’re going to see a difference, but right now, you know . . . the cost of fuel. Everything in this place at one time was on a truck. So, anytime you go to purchase anything, if you’re going to build anything, the price of fuel affects everything. So, with that being down. . .
With the Gulf of America right out our door right here, beautiful Gulf Coast, no permitting, no drilling for four years, no permitting. So, now that we can undo some of those cumbersome things that restricted energy production, you’re even going to see that in a more significant way, but it is on everybody’s mind. You know, it certainly is me at my house. And you know, you have so many proteins to choose from, and all commodities go through peaks and valleys. You know, it is a global market, but we will be seeing a difference I truly believe. Because of so many things: The tax cuts, people being hired, jobs created.
Did you catch it? “You have so many proteins to choose from.”
Ready for an irony? Hyde-Smith is a cattle rancher. You might think she wouldn’t want Mississippians or Americans to choose other proteins besides beef when grocery shopping.
The DSCC distributed a clip making it appear that Hyde-Smith immediately answered Keeton’s question with just those eight words. (It’s not fair or accurate, but in a cycle that produced the Ramaswamy ad featuring Amy Acton’s mother, an attack ad that truncates an opponent’s on-camera comments feels like small potatoes.)
As you can imagine, “you have so many proteins to choose from” sounds uncomfortably close to “let them eat cake.” Or perhaps President Trump’s remarks when asked about his tariffs raising prices for consumers:
They made a trillion dollars when, with Biden, a trillion dollars even a trillion one with Biden, selling us stuff — much of it we don’t need. You know, somebody said, “oh the shelves are going to be open.” Well maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know. And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.
Any elected official who tells the public they’ll just have to make do with less should expect to get tossed out on his or her keister in the next election.
Three weeks ago, Scott Colom’s campaign turned Hyde-Smith’s February quote into fodder for a devastating attack ad: “Pick another protein? Shiiiiii- I’d rather pick another senator instead.”
Now, let us separately point out that in that February 22 interview, it didn’t help that Hyde-Smith referred to the price of gas being down . . . roughly one week before the war against Iran began. One year ago, the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular in Mississippi was $2.60; today it is $3.73. More on gas prices in a moment.
On October 26, Hyde-Smith returned to WLOX and attempted to mitigate the damage from her previous remarks:
Keeton: What can be done in the Senate and federal level to bring down some of our food prices? Because food prices continue to go high. We all eat and it’s tough.
Hyde-Smith: Well, the comparison there is the two things that I hear the most about throughout Mississippi is gas prices and food prices. Gas is one item. Both of you had gas in your car to come to work today. You can’t get the water hose and fill up that tank. You can’t get peanut oil and fill up that tank. Gasoline, unless you want to ride the bicycle, that’s your only option. The other is the food prices and the increase there.
But thank goodness when mothers want to feed their families, when you go out shopping their proteins, you want to feed meat, there are some cheaper prices. And that’s what that statement was about, because there’s nothing to replace that gasoline unless you want to ride a bicycle.
It’s not a great answer, but maybe there just isn’t a good answer for any incumbent Republican on this issue. Just about everything you buy gets to the store on a truck, and as I wrote at the start of September, “Because slightly more than three-quarters of all trucks run on diesel fuel, it is exceptionally difficult for Americans to feel like the cost of living is growing more manageable if diesel fuel prices remain high.” In October the U.S. Energy Information Association said it projects retail diesel prices to average about $4.50 per gallon next year and for gasoline prices to average just under $3.60 per gallon.
Why The Iran War Isn’t the Only Cause of the Republican Wipeout
As mentioned yesterday, the war in Iran is indisputably a major factor in the Republicans’ colossal losses this week. But it’s not a sufficient explanation, as Vice President JD Vance seems to suggest — “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.”
For example, I am willing to believe frustration about the Iran war and its resulting impact on gas prices played a factor in voters’ decision to elect James Talarico and rebuke Ken Paxton in the Texas U.S. Senate race, although I think Paxton’s numerous scandals, laziness, and overall weakness as a candidate were also major factors.
But do you think the Iran war was a major factor in the Democratic win in . . . every other statewide race in Texas? The lieutenant governor’s race? The state attorney general’s race? All the Texas state supreme court races? Do you think the Democratic wins in the Texas state board of education races were all because Texans were upset that Trump broke his promise of “no more forever wars”?
Do you think the GOP wipeout at the state legislative level was driven by a desire for a more isolationist foreign policy? Do you think Keisha Lance Bottoms beat Rick Jackson in the Georgia governor’s race because the people of Georgia thought our foreign policy was too interventionist?
ADDENDUM: Over in the Washington Post, I ask whether, in the aftermath of an election that was about as thorough a rebuke of the president and the administration as you could imagine . . . it makes sense for Republicans to nominate President Trump’s vice president or secretary of state in 2028. The GOP would likely be better off with someone completely unconnected to the current administration.