Shortly after becoming the first Mississippi Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in more than four decades, Scott Colom pledged to work toward ensuring Donald Trump delivers on the commitments made during his successful 2024 campaign for a second term.
In a Sunday interview with CNN host Dana Bash, Colom referenced several Trump campaign promises, including reducing consumer prices, ending prolonged military engagements initiated by previous administrations, and releasing complete files related to the prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein, the late accused sex trafficker whose social circle extended across U.S. and global elite circles.
However, fuel and other goods prices have risen since Trump and Israel initiated conflict with Iran in February—a war that has continued for months. Critics have also argued that many Epstein-related files were omitted from allegedly incomplete disclosures by the current administration.
“Voters elected me to make sure he follows through on the commitments he made in 2024,” Colom said. “Well, I want to work … to actually accomplish that.”
Colom also stated his intention to support legislation restricting stock trading by members of Congress, emphasizing that Americans deserve to know lawmakers in Washington, D.C., “aren’t making money instead of looking out for them.”
“We’ve got to look out for our families—not D.C. families,” Colom said.
In a separate Sunday interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker, Colom added: “I’m not here to look out for the billionaires. I’m here to look out for working people.”
Colom’s comments followed his victory over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the November 3 midterm elections, making him the first Black U.S. senator from Mississippi since 1875, during Reconstruction after the Civil War.
His win over Hyde-Smith came roughly three years after she blocked his nomination for a federal judgeship during Joe Biden’s presidency—a span that interrupted Trump’s two White House terms. In many respects, Colom’s victory marked a midterm “blue wave” in which Trump and the Republican Party lost control of Congress to Democrats for the latter half of Trump’s second term beginning in January.
With Alaska’s Senate race still pending on Sunday, Colom’s seat was among eight flipped by Democrats in that chamber. Democrats also gained more than three dozen U.S. House seats and expanded control of state governors’ offices, raising hopes among party supporters that they could check Trump’s agenda for the remainder of his presidency.
Trump has responded to the shifted political landscape by reminding the public of his veto authority, which he can use to shape policy on issues such as the Iran war.
Asked by Bash to reflect on the historic nature of his defeat of Hyde-Smith, Colom replied: “It says that we have made a lot of progress in the journey to have people judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.”
“I had faith that Mississippians would give me a chance … if I could get my values out there and a vision for our state out there,” Colom said. “And—you know—Mississippi proved me right.”
Colom appeared on both networks remotely from Atlanta, where he was stranded after his flight to Washington, D.C., was canceled following Friday’s nationwide Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ground stop.
From Atlanta’s airport on Saturday night, Colom documented fellow travelers’ frustrations on social media.
The senator-elect said one traveler referenced his viral campaign ad criticizing Hyde-Smith for once suggesting that people concerned about rising beef prices could choose cheaper protein sources.
The campaign ad’s tagline was: “Pick another protein? … I’d rather pick another senator instead.”
As midnight passed at the airport, Colom wrote that another passenger joked at the expense of Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, saying: “Pick another flight? … pick another transportation secretary.”