In deep red Mississippi, of all places, Donald Trump’s Republicans are losing yet another of the Senate seats they thought were safe. The Democrat Scott Colom made history there as an African American with his victory.
Bastian Brauns reports from Washington
In the end, a lot of things came together in the US state of Mississippi. But the generally poor political mood for Donald Trump’s Republicans was also compounded by the candidate’s sometimes poor performance. The previous incumbent, Cindy Hyde-Smith, has represented the poorest state as a senator in the US Congress since 2018.
At the very beginning of the election campaign year, a rather casual comment about high meat prices was made in front of the camera. But for the Republican, who is also a cattle farmer, it becomes a political boomerang. In February 2026, host Hugh Keeton from local station WLOX wanted to know what the Republican senator planned to do about skyrocketing beef prices. Your answer should literally become a fodder for Democrats.
Let them eat chicken
Cindy Hyde-Smith just shrugged her shoulders and said: There are “so many proteins to choose from.” The affected consumers should simply choose a different type of protein in the supermarket, such as chicken or pork. In Mississippi, where raising cattle is part of their identity and many families are already under the inflation groaned, it sounded like mockery in the style of a reincarnated Queen Marie-Antoinette. It was the birth of her Democratic challenger Scott Colom’s election campaign, which focused primarily on the high cost of living.
His campaign team turned it into a viral commercial that featured citizens of all backgrounds who contemptuously aped Hyde-Smith’s recommendation to “Pick Another Protein” and rephrased it as “I’d rather pick another Senator.” Then they would rather elect another senator. The tenor: The unrealistic Republican has probably completely lost her mind. It was just one of numerous campaign videos that Scott Colom did brilliantly. His wife and children also took part.
Missed opportunities
At the end of October, in a second television interview, Hyde-Smith could have set the record straight again shortly before the election. Instead, she added further: When mothers bought meat for their families, there were “cheaper products”. And that was exactly what she was talking about in her statement at the beginning of the year. In contrast to the high fuel prices, you can ultimately resort to alternatives when it comes to food. Ultimately, the only alternative to gasoline would be a bicycle, said the Republican.
In view of the extremely close election result of just a few thousand votes in the deep red, Republican-leaning southern state of Mississippi, the conclusion is obvious: Cindy Hyde-Smith did not just owe her defeat to inflation and… Donald Trump thanks, but above all to yourself.
