‘We gotta do something’: the coalition that helped elect Scott Colom to Senate

Behind the Mississippi senator-elect's victory is a coalition of groups that didn't have a lot of money, but had collective power and post-Callais anger

Long before national political leaders and media were paying any attention, long before the Louisiana v Callais supreme court decision gutted the Voting Rights Act, Mississippi organizers were working to grow political participation and improve quality of life in a state that often ranks low on its residents' health and wellbeing.

Activists' momentum contributed to Democrat Scott Colom's historic upset in the midterm elections. A loose coalition of about a dozen, mostly Black-led nonprofits or initiatives rallied residents after Callais, the April decision that set off a flurry of redistricting efforts across southern states. That case was not the sole impetus for organizing efforts across Mississippi, but it turned out thousands in the 20 May Mississippi Fights Back" rally. Callais became the most recent opportunity to channel people's frustrations and hopes into action - and to harness previous campaigns that go back years and even decades.