How spectacular Republican own goals helped Mississippi make history

Résumé détaillé

Mississippi has a 36 per cent Black population, more than any other state. But the last time it had a Democratic senator, he was an ardent segregationist first elected in 1947 who…

Democrat Scott Colom was humble in claiming victory late Wednesday night, seizing an eighth Senate seat from the Republicans, this one in the heart of the red south.

“All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this,” he said.

“In the Mississippi, our prayers have often changed the course of history.”

Mississippi has a 36 per cent Black population, more than any other state. But the last time it had a Democratic senator, he was an ardent segregationist first elected in 1947 who Atlantic magazine once described as “one of twentieth century America’s most admired white supremacists”.

The last time Mississippi had a Black senator, he was the son of a slave mother and a white planter, born 20 years before the start of the American Civil War. That man, Republican Blanche Bruce, spoke in the Senate against the “flagrant wrongs” that persisted in Mississippi, where Democrats co-ordinated efforts to suppress the Black vote.

More than 150 years later, the names of the parties have changed. But some of the tactics look familiar. Colom’s win represents a spectacular own goal for Republicans, who have long used controversial tactics to keep the state in their – white -hands. This time, they overreached.

Associated Press called the result for Colom, a 43 year-old former prosecutor and judge, on Wednesday night, more than a week after the election. AP put him ahead by 4669 votes, or 0.5 per cent of the 962,237 counted.

Jubliant supporters gathered in Jackson, Mississippi, one of the most high-profile battlegrounds of the civil rights movement, where Black activists fought – and some died – for democracy.

The victory rally was held on the lawn outside Woodworth Chapel, a meeting ground for prominent civil rights leaders in the 1960s and 1970s, including Martin Luther King, Jr.

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