COLUMBUS – This is no ordinary time, former Vice President Kamala Harris told a crowd of hundreds Thursday in Columbus High School’s gymnasium. But Scott Colom, she said, is no ordinary man. 

For Mississippians who have spent nearly two years angry, sad and powerless, Harris said “it’s time to turn that anger into action.” 

“They’re trying to make you feel like you don’t have somebody,” Harris told the crowd. “You have Scott, and he will fight for you and he will fight alongside you. And if we need any reminder of how important that is, we have that moment now when we look at the contrast. We have a choice. The people of Mississippi have a choice.” 

Harris joined Colom, Democratic hopeful for the U.S. Senate, for a Columbus campaign rally, capping an evening of speakers encouraging those attending not only to turn out on Election Day but also help others know who Colom is and what he stands for in the runup to Nov. 3. 

“I’m here in this high school in Columbus because in addition to his parents and family, this is the place that helped raise Scott because we understood the capacity of a young man to be a leader among people and lift them up,” Harris said. “I am here in this high school in Columbus because you know Scott best. You know his character.”

Colom, a graduate of CHS, said when asked why he would bring the former vice president to Columbus, he told the crowd, “Why not?”

“Because this is the place that taught me the values that matter,” he said. “My church taught me the values that matter. My community taught me the values that matter.”

Colom said he intends to take the values he learned in Columbus to Washington, D.C., if elected. But those values, he said, are not the same ones he sees in his opponent, Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, or in President Donald Trump. 

“(In) 2024, we were promised America first. Y’all remember that? … We were promised lower grocery prices on Day 1. Instead, we got a sales tax (through tariffs) on Day 2. We got gas prices through the roof. We got grocery prices through the roof. We’re paying more so they can make more,” he said. “Those are not the values that actually make our country great. Those are not the values that I was raised with. Those are not the values that you were raised with.” 

Colom said Hyde-Smith has been complicit in driving up costs, especially in regards to tariffs and the ongoing conflict in Iran, referring to the senator as “Cindy High Prices.” 

“If you look at the Constitution, it’s very clear that our junior senator – the person that’s supposed to look out for us – she’s supposed to have the power when it comes to tariffs and when we go to war,” he said. “But she sold us out. She’s giving away our voice. She’s giving it to her MAGA daddy. She ain’t looking out for you all. She’s looking out for D.C.”

If elected, Colom told the crowd he intends to fight on Day 1 to raise the minimum wage, lower tariffs and end what he called a “stupid” war.

But the only way to do that, he said, is if Mississippi works together. 

“We’re not going to be distracted because we understand that unless every child of God has a good education, no child of God has a good education,” he said. “Unless every child of God has access to their dream and the ability to to reach their God-given potential, no child of God has that. Unless every child of God has access to healthcare and hospitals, no child of God has access to healthcare and hospitals.”

McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.