Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Scott Colom and Congressman Bennie Thompson
- Given Senator Alsobrooks’ stated policy positions, campaigning alongside her in conservative Mississippi is sure to raise eyebrows.
Mississippi U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom has announced that U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat from Maryland, will spend the day in Jackson campaigning with him on Saturday.
Given Alsobrooks’ stated policy positions, campaigning alongside her in conservative Mississippi is sure to raise eyebrows as Colom has tried to distance himself from the more progressive wing in the Democrat Party.
To have a chance to win in the General Election, Colom either needs a significant number of Republican voters to stay home or cross party lines and vote for a Democrat, both of which seem increasingly unlikely as the political tenor continues to build ahead of the November midterms.
Even though Colom has received support from over 30 sitting Democrat Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York, Alsobrooks will be the first sitting U.S. Senator to come to Mississippi and campaign with Colom, the Democrat nominee trying to unseat Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Colom and Alsobrooks will share the stage at two public events. The first at The Capital Club will focus on maternal health, rural healthcare delivery, and cuts to Medicaid subsidies. The second is being promoted as a “Voting Rights Town Hall” at Farish Street Baptist Church, where Colom’s campaign said the discussion will center on “the threat facing Mississippi’s congressional map and the voice of Black Mississippians in Washington after this spring’s Supreme Court Callais ruling.”
Mississippi’s 2nd District Congressman Bennie Thompson (D) is also slated to attend the second event with Colom and Alsobrooks.
While Mississippi voters know Thompson well, many may have never heard of the Maryland Senator.
Alsobrooks, a former state’s attorney and county executive, succeeded former U.S. Senator Ben Cardin after he chose not to seek re-election. She defeated Maryland’s former Republican Governor Larry Hogan by nearly 12 points in the 2024 election to win her first term in the U.S. Senate.
Among her platform positions that remain displayed on her campaign website are Alsobrooks’ support for abortion, Medicaid expansion, and transgender equality, all of which have proven to be losing issues for Democrats in Mississippi.
On abortion, Alsobrooks supports federal legal protection for the right to provide and access to abortions. She also opposes efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
“She finds it shameful that the Dobbs decision overturned 50 years of abortion rights, putting her daughter in a position where she faces the same challenges her grandmother did—deprived of the federally recognized right to make her own health care decisions,” the Senator’s website states.
The Dobbs case originated in Mississippi. The state successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court to have abortion policy decisions returned to the states, overturning Roe v. Wade. Mississippi’s trigger law then went into effect, outlawing abortion in the state, save for instances of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother.
Alsobrooks’ position on Medicaid and Medicare also conflicts with a majority of Mississippians. She has stated her desire to “build upon the Affordable Care Act to ensure universal health coverage” while supporting continued subsidies for Medicaid and Medicare.
“She believes it’s time for Congress to act to expand Medicaid for millions of Americans that should be covered by the ACA Medicaid expansion but live in the 10 states whose Republican legislators refuse to expand coverage in their states,” her website states.
Mississippi is one of those states that has not expanded Medicaid, as state leaders such as Governor Tate Reeves (R) have repeatedly warned that doing so would balloon the welfare rolls and over time cost Mississippi taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Another issue where Alsobrooks diverges with a majority of Mississippi voters is on transgender “rights.” Her website states, “She will strongly oppose Republican efforts to undermine equality and promote discrimination including the recent wave of anti-trans legislation in some Republican led legislatures.”
The Mississippi Legislature is among the state legislative bodies that have fought against “gender affirming care” for children while also enacting law that restrict biological boys playing girls’ sports and being able to be in private female areas such as locker rooms and bathrooms.
The issue has also been on the forefront of the Senate race between Senator Hyde-Smith and Colom. Hyde-Smith has raised concern over Colom’s opposition to legislation to protect female athletes. That was one of the reasons she opposed his nomination by former President Joe Biden (D) to be a federal judge.
In 2021, Colom signed on to a joint statement of “prosecutors and law enforcement leaders” who condemned “the criminalization of transgender people and gender-affirming care.” However, Colom told Magnolia Tribune in a recent interview, “I’m not for biological boys playing girls sports. I’m not for gender-affirming surgeries for children. I’ve never been for those things.”
Other areas where Alsobrooks’ political ideology appears to run contrary to Mississippi’s conservative voters include her opposition to local law enforcement entering into a 287(g) agreement with Immigrations and Custom Enforcement, the desire to impose universal background checks on gun buyers, and the want to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, to name a few.
