Nov 12, 2026 · 27 min
Mississippi organizers turn a Senate win into a power test
1725: Colom Reminds Dems, Mississippi Matters
The victory carries historic meaning, but the episode argues that protecting Black political power will require sustained organizing and investment.
- 1Scott Colombe’s victory followed decades of voter registration, canvassing, digital outreach, and coalition-building across Mississippi.
- 2Charles Taylor says the campaign reached young, sporadic, and some Trump voters through broad messaging and sustained local engagement.
- 3Redistricting threats could reshape Black representation far beyond the Senate, making long-term organizing essential across every level of government.
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Charles Taylor describes working in Medgar Evers’ bullet-marked former office before reflecting on Mississippi electing its first Black senator since Reconstruction.
The brief
Scott Colombe’s Mississippi Senate victory marked the state’s first election of a Black senator since Reconstruction, but Charles Taylor frames it as the product of sustained organizing rather than a sudden breakthrough.
Taylor describes the Mississippi NAACP’s voter-registration, canvassing, messaging, digital outreach, and election-day work, including efforts to reach beyond the Black electorate and some Trump voters.
The campaign used viral content and nearly 100 town halls to engage young, sporadic, and low-propensity Black voters; Taylor says the missing ingredient was investment and dissemination, not messaging.
The conversation widens to redistricting and the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, with potential consequences for congressional, legislative, school-board, county, and city elections.
Working in Medgar Evers’ former office, Taylor reflects on the emotional weight of the milestone while insisting that the next phase is a long-term strategy for Black political power.
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