Colom Makes Campaign Stop In Water Valley
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Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom speaks Saturday at Bozarts Gallery as a film crew documents his campaign stop.
WATER VALLEY — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom brought his campaign to Water Valley Saturday, stopping at Bozarts Gallery following a program honoring some of Yalobusha County’s Black voting pioneers.
Colom, the district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Circuit Court District, spoke with local residents and answered questions during a program hosted by Dottie Chapman Reed. He is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Nov. 3 general election. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins is also seeking the seat.
The setting provided a backdrop for Colom’s discussion of voting rights. The Emma Spencer Gooch Collection exhibit at Bozarts recognizes Gooch and other Yalobusha County residents involved in voter registration and education during the civil rights era. Reed wrote earlier this month that the exhibit was intended to recognize those who registered Black voters and the churches that hosted monthly meetings of the Yalobusha County Voters League.
Colom told the audience that the sacrifices made by those early voting-rights workers should not be taken for granted.
“Sometimes we gloss over the fact that people died for that right,” Colom said, referring to voting.
Colom said protecting voting rights would be a priority for him if elected and criticized political efforts that he said allow elected officials to choose their voters rather than voters choosing their representatives.
“We need to empower voters to pick leaders and not let leaders pick voters,” Colom said.
Colom also used the appearance to outline issues at the center of his campaign, including health care, wages and the cost of living. He said he supports raising the federal minimum wage and has made protecting health coverage and Mississippi hospitals a major part of his campaign.
Health care generated one of the questions from the audience. Colom criticized reductions in federal Medicaid spending and said Mississippi’s failure to expand Medicaid has put additional pressure on rural hospitals. He said he would seek bipartisan support in Washington for measures aimed at protecting Medicaid coverage.
Colom said that emphasis on personal contact has shaped his Senate campaign. He told the Bozarts audience that traveling to festivals, community events and small towns has shown him that many voters feel disconnected from statewide and national politics.
“If you don’t listen, you don’t learn,” Colom said.
