Scott Colom Flips County Named for Ku Klux Klan Founder Nathan Bedford Forrest
The Mississippi Free Press reports that Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom carried Forrest County — named for KKK first grand wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest — leading Cindy Hyde-Smith 54% to 44%, a 29-point swing from Trump's 2024 margin there, and could become Mississippi's first Black senator since 1881. The article recounts Hattiesburg's civil rights history, including Vernon Dahmer's 1966 death defending his home from the Klan and the county's failed 2020 vote to remove its Confederate monument.
