BLUE SOUTH RISING: Warnock, Colom make new case for the South

him. and you've obviously been there. You've been an advocate. We just showed that. You talked to him today. How's he feeling? Yeah, I talked to Senator-elect. Yes, there you go. You're getting used to it. I gotta get used to saying. that. That was great. I talked to Senator-elect Scott Colom earlier. tonight and he's just ecstatic. And I congratulated him. He ran such a scrappy race. He was so creative, so innovative. Not much help early on.

But I've been talking this up for a long time. And as you pointed out months ago, I was talking to donors and said, who are I SAID THEY ARE SLEEPING ON. MISSISSIPPI AND FOLKS, THE ROOM LITERALLY LAUGHED. WELL, MISSISSIPPI GETS THE LAST. LAUGH TONIGHT AND I JUST WANT TO. SEE OUR PARTY INVEST IN THERE IS A GOVERNOR'S RACE. IN. MISSISSIPPI NEXT YEAR. WE CAME PAINFULLY CLOSE IN LOUISIANA. THERE WAS VIRTUALLY NO INVESTMENT IN FLORIDA.

SO THERE ARE OPPORTUNITIES HERE. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT WE WOULD. HAVE FLIPPED A STATE, FLIPPED A SEAT IN SOUTH CAROLINA? BUT I'VE LIVED THIS. WE WERE SAYING THIS IN GEORGIA YEARS AGO. AND I THINK FOR many, it felt like Lucy and the football. And so every year when we came up short, there was the temptation, I think, nationally to pull back that there's no way we're. going to win. in Georgia. But we were looking at at the numbers. and the margins were getting smaller. and smaller.

And so we have to resist the temptation. as Democrats to lean back when we don't. quite make it, lean in. And because the road to a sustainable. democratic majority runs through the South, which is why I spent much of last month. in South Carolina, in Mississippi, in Georgia, in North Carolina, in South Carolina. And here we are, 55 Democratic seats. But we need to be in Mississippi.

this week organizing and registering. more voters. This is the beginning and not the end. Yeah, let me ask you about that. I think a lot of people are tired, but they're also energized. And it can be both. But, you know, a lot of people ask me too, and I'm sure they ask you, like, what should I be doing now? Right? What should I be doing now? What do you think needs to happen? Give us some specifics in Mississippi to campaign, to organize for this governor's race.

As you're looking at other places you think. have the potential ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY TO BE. MISSISSIPPI IN TWO YEARS FROM NOW? WELL, YOU KNOW, FIRST OF ALL, I REALLY WANT TO TALK TO YOUNG PEOPLE. TONIGHT WHO DIDN'T LIVE THROUGH THE CIVIL RIGHTS I. DIDN'T, I WAS BORN AFTER DR. KING'S DEATH BUT WHO MAY BE. SITTING AT HOME AND THINKING. MY VOTE DOESN'T COUNT? WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE? WERE YOU WATCHING WHAT HAPPENED. OVER THE LAST FEW DAYS? I WOULD SAY THAT THOSE folks who are sitting. at home, literally this race is being determined. by a couple thousand votes. And so your vote matters. You don't get to outsource.

democracy. You have to PARTICIPATE, YOU HAVE TO SHOW UP. I ALSO WANT TO UNDERSCORE THAT. THE REASON WHY WE SPENT THE LAST. FEW DAYS COUNTING THESE PROVISIONAL BALLOTS IS. BECAUSE. THE GOVERNMENT OF MISSISSIPPI. HAS MADE IT INCREDIBLY HARD. YEAH. UNNECESSARILY DIVICULT FOR PEOPLE TO VOTE. THEY WANT TO SEE FEWER PEOPLE VOTE. TOO MANY PEOPLE IN POWER WANT TO. SEE FEWER PEOPLE VOTE. AND SOMEHOW THE PEOPLE OF MISSISSIPPI WOULD NOT. BE DENIED.

They overcame all of those barriers. They showed up anyhow in a state where it's. almost impossible to vote early. There are just not many opportunities, which is, you know, which hurts working people. It's a poll tax for working people to have to. vote on a Tuesday during working hours. And yet they overcame all of that, but they stood on the shoulders of. of martyrs who had been fighting. this good fight for a long time.

I was in Jackson, as you point out, campaigning with Scott, but I couldn't leave Jackson without going. by the home of Mega Evers, one of my heroes. And I stood there in his driveway, where in June of 1963, while holding T-shirts that said. Jim Crow must GO, HE HAD GOTTEN HOME LATE ONE NIGHT AFTER ORGANIZING AND. HE WAS. MURDERED HOLDING THOSE T-SHIRTS.

SAYING JIM CROW MUST GO IN HIS OWN DRIVEWAY. SO THOSE BALLOTS THAT THE GREAT. PEOPLE OF MISSISSIPPI CAST. over the last few days, those ballots are soaked. and baptized. in the blood of martyrs who believed. long before there was any reason to believe. And they kept the faith, they kept pushing and so. tonight we remember. mega evers we we remember schwerner cheney. and goodman two jews. and an african-american uh murdered. in nashoba county mississippi just trying to.

give people their voice. We remember Bob Moses, and we remember the great. Fannie Lou Hamer, a Mississippi sharecropper who when. she got started in the movement. didn't even know what the constitution. was but she was a quick. SHE SPOKE SO POWERFULLY THAT SHE SCARED. THE LIVING DATE LIGHTS EVEN OUT. OF A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENT. THAT'S ANOTHER STORY WHO WANTED TO GET HER OFF. OF TELEVISION. BUT ALL OF THEIR VOICES RISE up, they're part of the great cloud. of witnesses cheering us on in this moment.

And we owe it to them and we owe it to. our children to keep pushing the country. a little bit closer to its ideals. So I'm happy and I'm deeply hopeful tonight. One of the things I've been thinking a lot about, and I'm sure you have been too, is the darkness everybody felt. around the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. I remember having you on and talking with you. about that around that period of time. And it just felt like it was just just another, another huge effort to make it harder. for people to participate in the process. and seek representation.

It feels like a lot of people. in the country said I've got a plot twist for you. I'm going to turn out and vote. Did that surprise you? I'm I'M SURE IT HEARTENED YOU, BUT HOW HAVE YOU DIGESTED THAT? HOW POWERFUL. THE OTHER KING USED TO SAY THE ARK. OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE IS LONG BUT. IT BINDS TOWARD JUSTICE. YEAH. WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING IS THAT EVIL. ALWAYS GOES TOO TOO FAR, AND THEREFORE IT CONTAINS WITHIN ITSELF. THE SEED OF HIS OWN DESTRUCTION. I THINK THAT THOSE WHO ARE USED. TO PLAYING WITH POWER GOT TO BE A LITTLE BIT TOO. IMPRESSED WITH THEMSELVES.

THIS EXTREME SUPREME SUPREME COURT PUSH. FORWARD THIS CALLE DECISION WHICH IN MY. VIEW IS ONE OF THE WORSE SUPREME COURT. IN MY VIEW IS ONE OF THE WORST. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS IN MY LIFETIME. IT LITERALLY OPENED THE. door poured fuel on the fire. of partisan gerrymandering which has a huge. racial subtext whether people want to admit it. or not particularly when you're talking. about the south and literally we saw states. like louisiana and others began to gerrymander. lines in the middle of an election,

in some cases while people were voting. We're arguing about the lines. And I think the people all across. the south who know this awful history, said that you will not diminish us. You will not deny our voices. And they stood up and they said, you know what? You can't gerrymander a whole state. And we've got one for you. We're going to send a black man named. Scott Colombe. To the United States Senate. Perfect piece of story.

Yeah, we're going to send some other folks. in the house. And so what we learned tonight. and there are many battles ahead of us. Let's be clear. The next two years are going to be tough. because Donald Trump is now a defanged. old lion who's wounded, knows he's on his way out. He's a lame duck president. That's a dangerous. situation. But let's bask in the light and the joy. of this tonight and be reminded. that when we show up, when we struggle,

it makes a huge difference. And. I KNOW WHAT THAT FEELS LIKE, BUT YOU KNOW WHAT'S EVEN SWEETER IS WHEN. YOU GET TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. TOMORROW HE'LL MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE UNITED. STATES SENATE. I CAN'T WAIT TO WELCOME HIM AND SO MANY others. I have so many more questions for you. KIND OF ALL OF THE TIME IT TOOK TO ORGANIZE IN. YOUR RACE AND WHAT YOU SEE IN MISSISSIPPI? OH, THERE ARE A LOT OF SIMILARITIES. EVERY STATE IS DIFFERENT, OF COURSE. AND, UM, YOU KNOW, I WANT TO KEEP MAKING THIS. PITCH. FOR THE SOUTH AND ONE OF THE REASONS AGAIN IS IT'S.

THE. FASTEST GROWING REGION IN THE COUNTRY. IT'S THE ONLY REGION WHERE WE'RE SEEING. POPULATION GROWTH IN EVERY AGE GROUP, AND WE WERE LOOKING AT ALL OF THAT IN GEORGIA, BUT WE UNDERSTOOD THAT DEMOGRAPHICS DO. NOT EQUAL DESTINY. YOU HAVE TO DO THE HARD. WORK. SO AFTER SPENDING A LOT OF I'VE HAD A LOT OF. TIME WORKING ALONGSIDE STACEY ABRAMS WHO, BY THE WAY, IS FROM MISSISSIPPI. REGISTERING VOTERS TRYING TO. TO HELP THE STATE TO REALIZE ITS POWER,

I DECIDED TO GIVE THEM SOMEBODY TO VOTE. FOR AND SO I RAN FOR THE UNITED STATES SENATE, NOT BECAUSE I WAS BORED BEING A PASTOR, I LOVE BEING A PASTOR BUT IT WAS AN. OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE IN A DIFFERENT WAY. AND, YES, I WENT ALL ACROSS THE STATE. OF GEORGIA. I CAMPAIGNED EVERYWHERE. AND I WOULD GO INTO THESE LITTLE. RURAL TOWNS AND THEY WOULD I WOULD BE. SURPRISED THAT I WAS THERE. NOT BECAUSE I WAS A DEMOCRAT. THEY WERE SURPRISED BECAUSE NOBODY WHO WAS RUNNING FOR. SENATE.

HAD EVER SHOWN UP IN THEIR LITTLE TOWN. I WAS SURPRISED THAT THEY THEY WERE SURPRISED BECAUSE. SILLY ME, NOT HAVING RUN FOR ANYTHING, I THOUGHT THAT A UNITED STATES SENATOR WAS. SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT ALL THE. PEOPLE IN HIS STATE. EVEN THE FOLKS WHO DIDN'T VOTE. FOR HIM OR WEREN'T GOING. I WOULD SHOW UP IN THESE LITTLE TOWNS, AND GUESS WHAT? THESE WERE THE PLACES THAT WERE. BEING DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED BY. GEORGIA'S REFUSAL TO EXPAND MEDICAID. AS WE LOOK AT THE ONE BIG MISSISSIPPI, THIS IS THE BIG UGLY BILL THAT. REPUBLICANS PASSED LAST SUMMER,

OR THE SUMMER 25. THIS IS DISPROPORTIONATELY HURTING THOSE RED. RURAL DISTRICTS ALL ACROSS MISSISSIPPI, THOSE ARE THE PLACES WHERE THE HOSPITALS ARE. CLOSING AND YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE? THOSE ARE THE PLACES THAT ARE. DISPROPORTIONATELY HIT BY THE CUTS IN SNAP, ALL OF THE RACIAL STEREOTYPES. WITH RESPECT the SNAP, notwithstanding. It's these poor rural districts where. not only do you have families.

and working people who are food insecure, that local grocery store, THAT IS A PART OF THESE SMALL ECONOMIES AND. I THINK THAT THESE PEOPLE FEEL BETRAYED. THEY FEEL BETRAYED BY DONALD TRUMP, WHO SAID HE WAS GOING THEY WANT TO LOWER. THEIR COSTS ON DAY ONE. INSTEAD, THEY'VE SEEN THEIR COSTS. GO UP BECAUSE OF THESE TARRORS. WHICH IS LITERALLY A TAX ON EVERYTHING. HE SAID IT WAS GOING TO KEEP. THEM OUT OF STUPID WAR WE'RE IN A STUPID WAR,

NO CLEAR OBJECTIVES, IT'S SPIKING THE COST OF. GAS, IT'S MAKING US LESS SAFE. HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO OPEN UP. THE EPSTEIN fouls. And so those folks feel betrayed. And so we should be clear about what happened tonight. It's the result literally of decades of work, grassroots organizing, uh, the martyrs that I MENTIONED EARLIER TONIGHT, BUT ALSO WHAT WE SAW IS A MULTIRACIAL COALITION.

OF CONSCIENCE RISING UP FROM THE GREAT STATE OF. MISSISSIPPI. MISSISSIPPI, PUTTING A NEW KIND OF TONE. AND EMPHASIS. ON NINA SYMONONE'S OLD SONG. I'M THE PREACHER SO I DON'T KNOW IF. I SHOULD SAY IT ON AIR, BUT YOU YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING YOU WANT. MISSISSIPPI, GOD DAMN. MISSISSIPPI, GOD DAMN. MISSISSIPPI, GOD DAMN. YOU'RE. ALLOWED TO SAY IT. THERE YOU I'M JUST QUOTING NINA SIMONE. MOMENTS CALL FOR IT. SHE SAID IT IN ONE WAY, I THINK WE CAN SAY IT IN A. DIFFERENT WAY TONIGHT. MY GOODNESS, HERE WE ARE. HERE WE ARE.

AND THE COUNTRY, THE WHOLE COUNTRY IS BETTER. OFF BECAUSE. TAKE A LOOK AT THE POSITIONS OF IT. A LOT OF THOSE FOLKS THAT SCOTT. COLOMB IS GOING TO REPRESENT, THEY VOTED FOR DONALD TRUMP. I WAS SO IMPRESSED. HE SHOWED UP. HE LITERALLY SHOWED UP AT. IN TERMS OF OUR HUMANITY.

AND I THINK THE WAY HE CAMPAIGNED. IS THE WAY HE'S GOING TO GOVERN. HE IS READY TO REPRESENT THOSE FOLKS IN THOSE. RURAL DISTRICTS. AS I DO EVERY SINGLE DAY, I FIGHT FOR POOR RURAL. DISTRICTS. AND PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T VOTED FOR ME, THEIR HOSPITALS ARE CLOSING AND I'M. GOING TO DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO. FIGHT FOR THOSE PEOPLE.