About a thousand people gathered on the Woodworth Chapel Lawn at Tougaloo College, a historic black college in Jackson. A DJ played classic southern line dance tunes and much of the crowd obliged, dancing while they waited for Scott Colom, Mississippi’s new senate-elect, to arrive.
All of the Divine 9, a nickname for the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), an umbrella organization of nine historically Black Greek-letter fraternities and sororities, were represented, their members proudly wearing paraphernalia bearing their organization’s letters. Others were decked out in gear from some of the state’s colleges and universities – Tougaloo College, of course, but also Alcorn State University, Millsaps College, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University and others.
Babies and toddlers were there, in strollers or on their parents shoulders. They mingled with elders who had participated in the civil rights movement and who remembered just how hard the fight to secure the Voting Rights Act was.
But for the fact that it was after 8pm and the sun long gone, one might think it was a family reunion or a cookout.
Instead, this wide-ranging group of people, in many ways representative of the diversity of Mississippi itself, had gathered to celebrate the win they had hoped and worked for.
After more than a week of affidavit ballot curing and vote counting, it was official: Scott Colom is Mississippi’s senator-elect.
Rev Maxine Bolden, a Tougaloo graduate born in the 1960s, said that “it meant everything” to her to be there.
“I stand not only for me and for my children and grandchildren, but my parents are not here to see this,” Bolden told the Guardian. “They were active in the civil rights movement. To be able to witness the work, the proof of their work, and to see how the young people came out and participated – I’m just so proud. I’m proud for every reason that is. God came back and gave us all the marvels.”
The campaign was a family affair. Colom’s daughters, Lucy and Maddie, appeared in campaign ads, as did his wife, Nadia. During the event, Lucy and Maddie led the audience in the pledge of allegiance, while Nadia spoke to the crowd.
When he finally arrived, Colom walked out to TI’s Let ‘Em Know. The audience, still galvanized even after hours of standing, roared.
A historic win
Prior to Colom’s election, Mississippi had not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982. It was not since 1875 that the state sent a Black senator to Washington.
In 1881, Blanche K Bruce, who was born into slavery, ended his single term in office. His tenure followed that of Hiram Revels, the first Black man to serve in the US Senate, also from Mississippi.
More than a century later, the last Democrat to win election to the US Senate from Mississippi was John C Stennis, a staunch segregationist, who won a seventh term in 1982.
Dr Charles Holmes, a longtime educator, said that he wasn’t sure how many people understood the historical significance of Colom’s election, how it was entangled in a larger story about the state’s reconstruction and Jim Crow pasts, and what it meant for the future. But, by being there, they’re part of history.
Colom spoke from behind a sign that read “Picked Another Senator”, a reference to his viral campaign ad. He talked about the state’s history and the power of prayer.
“All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this,” Colom told the crowd. “I had the courage to believe in Mississippi. I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters.”
He highlighted civil rights heroes from the state – Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer and Frank Figgers – and asked the crowd to cheer the veterans of the civil rights movement that were in attendance.
Bennie Thompson, also a Tougaloo graduate, was one of Colom’s early supporters, along with Figgers and Derrick Johnson, the president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). For decades, Thompson was both Mississippi’s lone Black and lone Democratic congressional representative. With Colom’s election, that changed.
“From my perspective, I now have a partner in Washington,” he told the audience. He said that Colom understood the importance of healthcare, education and housing and the impact of tariffs on Mississippi. “You know, I just now have a partner that gets it. … I have a partner that can do wonders just because he cares. But more importantly, he listens. And that’s something that we haven’t had in this state in a long time.”
Aznii Welchlin, who was active in the months-long campaign to mobilize voters following Louisiana v Callais, the supreme court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act, spoke with Walker Lake, president of Mississippi State University’s college Democrats.
Welchlin, president of Tougaloo’s student government association, led a march by students to vote and helped in the process to cure affidavit ballots following the election. To the audience, she quoted Sam Cooke’s famous song: “It’s been a long time coming, but a change is going to come.”
Colom ended with a pledge to Mississippians:
“My commitment to you, each and every one of you, is that first I’m going to treat your children like I want my children to be treated. I’m going to treat your parents the way I want my parents to be treated. I’m gonna treat your future the way I want my future to be” and “work to make every Mississippian’s life better”.
