Hyde-Smith re-election bid on firm footing as she continues to outpace Colom

• First quarter finance reports show incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith is sitting on nearly five times more campaign funds than her Democrat challenger.

While national Democrats are crowing about large fundraising hauls in seemingly competitive races in Texas, Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina, here in Mississippi, U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) continues to far outpace her Democrat midterm opponent.

The latest campaign fundraising filings are perhaps the clearest indicator yet that the incumbent’s re-election bid in Mississippi is on firm footing eight months out from the November General Election.

First quarter campaign finance filings were due to be submitted this week with the Federal Election Commission. As of Thursday, the reports for Hyde-Smith and Democrat nominee Scott Colom were showing as filed with the FEC while Democrat-turned-Independent candidate Ty Pinkins’ latest report was not listed.

The incumbent Republican Senator’s primary campaign account pulled in over $635,000 during the first quarter of the year, with over $1 million raised between all three authorized committees supporting Hyde-Smith’s re-election bid.

“Our campaign is seeing incredible momentum, and these recent fundraising numbers show Mississippians are stepping up because they’re excited to keep strong, proven conservative leadership fighting for them in Washington,” said Jake Monssen, Hyde-Smith’s Campaign Manager.

As for Colom, the Democrat District Attorney’s campaign touted raising $601,000 in the first quarter while seeking to downplay Hyde-Smith’s obvious lead by saying his campaign haul was “donor-driven, with zero transfers” between committees.

A review of the latest filings shows that more individual donors from Mississippi were itemized and listed as contributing to Hyde-Smith than to Colom. However, since a large portion of Colom’s donations came through the Democrat online fundraising website ActBlue, which allows donors from around the country to easily contribute, the actual residence of those donors cannot be immediately verified. Republicans have a similar fundraising tool called WinRed which Hyde-Smith’s campaign also uses for donations.

Some of the higher profile names and organizations supporting each candidate on the recent reports include:

In terms of cash on hand as the general election campaign gets underway, Hyde-Smith is sitting on nearly five times more than her Democrat challenger, reporting a balance of nearly $2.5 million while Colom listed $560,000.

In a campaign release on Thursday, Colom tried to redirect attention away from the growing dollar gap between he and Hyde-Smith by promoting an interview on CBS News by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Kirsten Gillibrand. The New York Senator listed Mississippi as one of four races on her Senate map where she said “any one of these candidates could win because our candidates are so formidable.” The other three races were in Iowa, Texas and Florida.

Democrats need four seats to flip control on the U.S. Senate this cycle.