BREAKING: Deep red seat suddenly IN PLAY for Democrats

I'm joined now by candidate for the US. Senate in Mississippi, Scott Cologne. Thanks so much for joining me. >> Thank you so much for having me, Brian. I'm really looking forward to it. >> So, we have watched as these election. cycles have gone on, midterm cycles, general election cycles, and these. states like Mississippi, uh, h have. seemed increasingly out of reach for. Democrats. And so, why is your campaign. going to be different from previous. campaigns that we've seen thus far? Well, I'll tell you, I don't think, well, I know Mississippi is not nearly.

as far out of reach as people think. You. know, the last uh governor cycle 2023, we had a Democrat challenger run against. a Republican incumbent and he lost by. 27,000 votes. Uh, and what we learned. from that from that election is had he. got money earlier in the campaign, he. would have been able to reach voters. that don't watch TV, and I strongly. believe he would have won. And then. looking at my uh my history as a. district attorney, uh I ran for district. attorney in 2015 against a 27-year.

incumbent and I ran on a criminal. justice reform platform. I had the. courage to say that we needed to. prioritize violent crime and be smart on. nonviolent crime and look at. rehabilitation. I've been elected two. times since then. 2023 in my district. I. got elected by 10 points higher than uh. Vice President Harris did when she ran. 2024. So Mississippi is a competitive. states, a competitive state when. candidates have a strong message and a.

ability to get that message to the. voters. And my message is is very clear. Mississippi has to have a senator that. puts our interest above DC politics. And. Senator High Smith has a track record of. letting us down. On that point, can you. talk about what we're seeing right now. and how that kind of factors into your. thinking with this shutdown, with the. Republicans insistence on stripping away. health care, not just Medicaid thanks to. this budget bill that's going to impact. 17 million Americans, but now with their. refusal to extend these uh Affordable.

Care Act subsidies, that's going to hit. 24 million Americans. And we've seen. from, you know, from Senator Waro uh uh. in Georgia has been has been. consistently posting what it's going to. look like when these premiums uh jump. from 2025 to 2026. We're seeing premiums. double, triple, quadruple uh because of. the Republicans unwillingness to to. extend these ACA subsidies. So, can you. talk about how their priorities are kind. of informing your campaign? >> Absolutely. And Senator Hyatt Smith is.

public enemy number one when it comes to. putting our health care at risk. I mean, as you just mentioned, the uh the. Affordable Care Act subsidies in. Mississippi. We have so many citizens. that are relying on those subsidies to. help pay for their health care. And if. those uh that money, that federal money. goes away, that's going to really really. hurt so many working Mississippians. And. why is she Senator High Smith not a.

leader in talking about how important. that is? Why is she not on Capitol Hill. every day talking about that? You know, she just voted to give people making. over $600,000 a year a 3% permanent tax. cut. Brian, we don't have that many. people in Mississippi that make $600,000. a year. Very, very few. Those people. live in New York, California, Boston, DC. She voted to give those people a tax. cut. And she paid for the tax cut by. putting 140,000 working Mississippians.

at risk of losing healthcare and at. least eight hospitals at risk of. closing. And so when Mississippians hear. that message, I am confident they're. going to put me elect me to the United. States Senate because they know that we. have to cancel those cuts and we have to. save our hospitals. How are you thinking. about in asking people to vote for you, asking those people to distance. themselves from their identity which may. for a lot of these people be voting for. Republicans? You know, maybe maybe their.

families have voted Republican for for. decades. And so I think the Republican. party smartly has connected. Republicanism with identity. And so it's. not just a matter of like for a lot of. these people being able to say like okay. I'm just going to you know vote for this. person because they're they're better. for me at this particular moment. It it. often times it runs deeper than that. And so how are you thinking about that. in your conversations with voters for. example? Uh given the fact that this is. not just it's not as easy as just saying. like oh yeah you just you know pick.

whatever person on the ballot is going. to be is going to be better with no. thinking about how it kind of uh uh. reflects on the team that that most. people are sorted into. Well, the first. thing I would say is there are a lot of. Democrats in Mississippi that if we give. them a reason to vote, they'll go to the. polls and we'll be a lot more than. competitive competitive than than people. realize. I mean, there's a lot of. Democrats in Mississippi that have been. totally ignored. I mean, totally. I. mean, and so when they don't vote,

they're responding to the marketplace. The Dem the National Party is saying, "We're not going to spend any money. trying to get your vote." And so there's. a lot of apathy in in in a place like. Mississippi. Uh now I know that I'm. working hard every day to get out my bio. because I have a bio of and a and a. record of winning tough elections. Elections that people did not think I. can win. 27 year incumbent. I'm in a. district that is very purple. I mean. Trump I think he either won my district. in 24 or he got close to winning. The.

previous year I won by 10 points. And. the way I'm able to do that is because I. understand that you have to have a. message that is powerful to voters. My. message in 2015 when I first ran was, you know, we have to have a we have to. be smart on crime. And my message now is. we have to have a senator that's going. to put our interest first. And she has a. track record of letting us down. And the. thing I want you to understand, Brian, is a lot of voters don't know her. record. They don't know. She shows up. at, for example, in my my my area of the.

state. She showed up at the ribbon. cutting celebrating the expansion of the. highway. She showed up at the uh uh. bragging about Amtrak that's going from. G Coast Mississippi to New Orleans. 90%. of voters do not know that she voted. against the money that supported those. projects. >> Yeah. >> And that's why we have to call that out. because once you inform voters of her. record of letting us down and my. commitment to Mississippi, we. Mississippi is much more competitive. than a lot of states. And I want to make.

f one final point if you don't mind. >> Sure. >> Now, my mom was a a judge. She lost her first two elections for. chanced. to be the first African-American judge. in my area of the state. She made. history. And one of the things that I. took from her election was she had a no. quit mentality. Never quit. Never quit. And she passed that value on down to me. And we're going to have a never quit. mentality. I'm gonna do everything in my. power. I'm going to touch every voter. I'm going to raise every dollar I can to.

make sure Mississippi voters know that. we have a chance to make history. We. have a chance to show the country that. Mississippi matters. And uh that's very. important to me. >> Given the fact that the the US Senate is. so often split down the middle. I mean, right now it's 5347, but but often we. see something along the lines of 50/50. Can you talk about what your victory. would mean for the people of Mississippi. given the the outsized impact that. somebody like you would be able to have? I mean, I I think often about Joe.

Mansion and what he was able to do as a. Democratic senator from a deep red state. and the benefits that he was able to. confer onto the people of his state. because he was that swing vote. And so. what would your election in Mississippi. mean for the people of Mississippi who. are who you know when when there's a. Republican senator? That's just that's. just you know it's a given. It's one. more it's one more you know rubber stamp. vote and and not necessarily seeing any. any disproportionate benefits for your.

state. But as a Democratic senator from. that state would be a whole different. story. So can you talk about that for a. moment? I think that's a very a very. good point because the reality is the. the worst thing that you can have in. politics is a senator like Cindy High. Smith that is totally giving away her. voice. I mean totally giving it away cuz. she's given away Mississippi's voice. And so I'm going to be a senator like. let's take example Lisa Marowsky in. Alaska and how she voted with the big.

beautiful bill. She got a bunch of. carveouts exceptions where she looked. out for Alaska. When I saw that, I. couldn't help but ask, why isn't Cindy. High Smith getting those same type of. special deals for Mississippi? I mean, we're a state that needs federal. support. We're a state that has a lot of. people that rely on uh help for health. care. We're a state that has a lot of. hospitals at risk of closing. We're a. state with farmers, Brian, we have. farmers that are struggling right now. because of the tariff policy and they.

can't sell soybeans to China and. equipment prices are up. She used to be. the secretary of agriculture. She has. totally betrayed those farmers and it's. because we don't have an independent. senator. And what I'm offering to the. citizens of Mississippi, which is a. powerful opportunity, is to have a. senator that doesn't doesn't matter if. the president is a Democrat or. Republican, I'm always going to look out. for Mississippi. It does ma under no. circumstances am I gonna pay for people. in New York and Boston DC to get a tax.

cut if they're making six over $600,000. a year by putting our hospitals and our. healthcare at risk. Under no. circumstances will I do that. And I'm. telling you, Brian, Mississippi is the. best bet in politics because we have so. many voters who never get a Democratic. message. And I've got a proven track. record of winning those voters. And I. have the most powerful thing, most. powerful thing of politics. The most. powerful thing. I have a never quit. mentality. I am going to do everything.

in my power to make sure the Mississippi. voters realize they've got a choice this. election. They've got a choice. Scott, you know, while we're looking at at the. Republican agenda playing itself out, the agenda for which Cindy Hyde Smith. has completely uh uh uh supported, you. know, we we have watched people who who. uh elected these Republicans based on. this pretense that they're going to. bring prices down. Instead, these trade. wars that all of these Republicans have. supported have sent the prices of. everything surging. uh the farmers to. your point uh were were sold a bill of.

goods and now we're watching uh China. buy zero soybean crops and and and. farmer uh uh and that destroying their. livelihoods. Um we're watching as as. healthc care prices are are are set to. surge. We're watching as rural hospitals. are closing. In your conversations with. folks, is that resonating? Is that. breaking through? I understand. Look, I. I work in the digital media environment, so I understand that we have a very. bifurcated media ecosystem. Republicans. don't often hear uh Democratic messaging.

and vice versa. Democrats don't hear. right-wing messaging. But is that. breaking through? Is the pain of of the. reality of this agenda, this Republican. agenda, actually breaking through to. these voters, particularly the voters. who who supported the Republicans. thinking that they were going to get. something else? >> Uh absolutely. A big part of it is Cindy. Highmith, I know you would know this, Brian, but she's totally MIA in. Mississippi. She in six years, she's not. not done one press interview. She hardly.

ever does any interviews with local. newspapers or local uh uh uh television. stations. And it's because she knows she. can't answer for her record. She can't. answer for it. And you know, so now that. she's starting to pop out and they're. starting to hear somebody point out. where has she been? what is she doing. for Mississippi? They're totally totally. buying into it and they're excited. I'm. I'm happy. I'm excited about my. fundraising. I had record fundraising. the first month, but I need to get more.

people excited about Mississippi because. we're a state that's competitive. We're. a good bet. And the final point I want. to make uh about about your point which. is you know as a younger candidate I. understand the importance of digital. media and the importance of going to. doors. One of the things that I've seen not. work in the past is everybody puts their. money on television and the reality is a. lot of young people don't watch TV. anymore. They watch apps or they're on. their phone. They watch I got a friend.

who everything he watch is on his phone. He never watch. He don't even have a TV. and he can afford it. So, we got to go. to their doors and we got to go to the. We got to go digital and we got to be. creative about how we reach the voters. We got to give them authenticity. We got. to give them creativity. And that's one. thing that I've been doing in my. campaign. In fact, Brian, I don't know. if you know this, but they threatened to. investigate me on day one when I. announced the Republican party. I did a. Tik Tok video that was based on a tick. based on a trend about forgiveness. And.

they, you know, Republican party sent. out a letter to the to the FBI to. investigate me. Cindy High Smith is. already attacking me. She's got a a. minute ad out there already attacking me. with a bunch of lies is because they. realize that's the thing about. Republicans. They actually realize. Mississippi is competitive. They realize. that and they they love that uh they. would really they hope that uh the. Democratic party uh doesn't realize that. we can win this election. And that's why. I'm so excited that people across the.

country and and across Mississippi are. realizing that Mississippi has to matter. this election cycle. And that's why I'm. happy to be on your program to talk. about it. >> Well, I appreciate that. And let's. finish off with this. For those folks. who are looking to help your campaign, uh, where can they go? >> They can go to my website, which is. ww.cottcalom.com. SO ttm.com. Uh, I really appreciate it. You know, Mississippi, I I promise you, it's a. good investment. If you look at the. numbers, we're competitive and I have a.

track record of winning tough elections. and I can promise you I would never. quit. >> Awesome. Well, I'm going to put that. link to your website right here on the. screen and also in the post description. If you're watching online, if you're. listening to the podcast, it'll be in. the show notes of this episode. Scott, thank you so much for taking the time. Best of luck in the campaign trail. And. for those who are watching right now, uh. please consider donating early. This is. not an expensive media market to buy uh. ads in. This is not New York or DC or. LA. And so if you have the opportunity. to donate, please help this campaign and. let's make another seat competitive.

Scott, thank you so much for the time, >> man. Thank you so much for having me. God bless.