Welcome back to The Political Spectrum! Wow! We witnessed an absolute earthquake down in Mississippi. Scott Colom will be the first Black senator from the Magnolia State since the end of Reconstruction. It is easy to say now that Colom’s win was inevitable and in hindsight, some will say a poor Republican opponent and a national environment pushed him over the line. But for now, it’s a massive deal in a state that produced Medgar Evers, Blanche K. Bruce and Fannie Lou Hamer. And it’s largely due to the tireless work of Colom and his community.
There’s also no denying that Colom’s victory is also a massive victory for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is trying to prove that he deserves another term when many Democrats believe otherwise.
I know, because on Wednesday, Schumer’s team emailed me after I tweeted about campaign contributions to Colom. On Monday evening, as it became abundantly clear that Colom would beat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde Smith, I decided to go through some of my old tweets because I vaguely remembered that some Democrats had given to the campaign when it was still considered a longshot.
Sure enough, I was right and decided to post some of them. As I had recalled, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) had contributed in October, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.). Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the resident billionaire in the Democratic Party, used his political action committee to spend more than $1 million in independent expenditures. Sen. Elissa Slotkin’s leadership PAC (D-Mich.) sent money in August. I also noticed Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-Ga.) leadership PAC sent $10,000.
All five names have been floated as 2028 contenders, some more credibly than others. Kelly was an early adopter, giving $5,000 to Colom on Sept. 30, 2025 for the primary, before sending another $5,000 for the general election in February.
“There were indications, I saw like seven, eight months ago, that seemed like he had a real, real shot of winning,” Kelly, who has become a prolific fundraiser and who gives to candidates liberally, told The Political Spectrum. “He was a great candidate.”
Before I hit “send,” I decided to check through the Federal Election Commission’s website to see if any of the other Black Democratic senators had given relatively early. It turned out that Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland’s leadership PAC had given as early as September 29, 2025, as did Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester’s. The more I punched in names on the FEC website, I noticed that Juliana Stratton, the incoming senator from Illinois, set up a joint victory fund that raised $30,300.00. The leadership PAC for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) also sent money to him.
I fired off the tweet at 1:48 AM on Tuesday morning, posted the same thing on Bluesky and threads, went to bed and forgot about it. But throughout Tuesday, numerous Democratic advisers were eager to message. First, Warnock’s team messaged me to flag that the senator had raised $750,000 for Colom. Shortly around that time, I got a message from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s (D-Nev.) team saying how Cortez Masto’s leadership PAC contributed $5,000 to his campaign, $5,000 to his legal fund and later hosted a $25,000 fundraiser for Colom. Sen. Ruben Gallego’s (D-Ariz.) team would follow suit.
Shortly thereafter House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s team messaged that Jeffries had sent $5,000. Shortly thereafter, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) people messaged me that she held a fundraiser for him and maxed out to Colom in June. They also flagged the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, did a $500,000 ad buy.
Now what was the point of all of this? Of course, this all came on the eve of Colom pulling off an impossible victory. Moreover, having a hand in electing a Black man who will occupy the Senate seat held by James Eastland, the segregationist racist Democrat, is having played an accompanying role in history.
But there’s also the raw politics of it. Both Jeffries and Schumer are fighting for their political futures at the moment. Despite the fact that Democrats will have around 250 House seats once the final votes are counted and at least 55 Senate seats depending on when the votes are counted, both men are facing rebellions within their caucuses.
On one end, it makes some sort of sense. Before last Tuesday, most Democratic voters were furious with their leaders. Some have accused both Jeffries and Schumer of being too supportive of Israel when the base of the party has soured on the country’s government under Benjamin Netanyahu. Dissatisfied Democrats say they are too beholden to the Democratic donor class.
But nobody hard to dispute the election results. Democrats in both chambers won massive majorities. Even setting aside Mississippi, they flipped districts and states that Donald Trump won by double digits. Schumer, Jeffries, and truly everyone, will want to say their dollars pushed Colom over the line.
Both men need to claim the biggest victories came because of their labor. And as I’ve written before, they are likely to ascend to the top of their chambers because nobody else is a viable option. Taking credit for the biggest upset for Democrats in ages helps with that.
That being said, they can always reach me on Signal at EMGarcia.85.
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