Ty Pinkins, 2023 (Photo from the Pinkins campaign)
- Independent candidate Ty Pinkins said he is “happy that we drew votes from Cindy Hyde-Smith,” and he now hopes Democrat Scott Colom wins.
Ty Pinkins told CNN Wednesday that he never intended to be a spoiler in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race. He ran as an independent to give voters an option beyond the Democrat and Republican candidates, Scott Colom and incumbent U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Pinkins, a former Democrat, contends that the nearly 20,000 votes that went his way on Tuesday may have actually helped Colom ultimately win despite the backlash he has received from staying in the race.
“I think what we did in this race as an independent campaign we did the opposite of a spoiler,” Pinkins told CNN. “If you look at the data coming out of this race, 77% of our votes came from traditionally Republican counties in Mississippi. Twelve of the top 13 vote getting counties we got were red counties.”
Pinkins said polling mid-year showed 70% of those voting for him as an independent were traditional Republican voters.
“What we were thinking when we were going into that race, we saw the same thing,” he said, adding, “70% of my voters were Republicans and that would benefit Scott Colom and that’s what you see now.”
Pinkins went on to say that in only two occasions in 50 years has a Republican in Mississippi been held below 50% in federal elections, “and on both of those occasions an independent was in the race.” He pointed to the 1978 contest Thad Cochran won by a plurality of the vote, not a majority, and then this election with Colom and Hyde-Smith.
“Being below 50% does matter when you take into consideration what could have happened with that 2.1%,” Pinkins said. “You can’t assume that all of those votes would have went right back to Scott Colom when the Republican has won for 15 straight times over the last 50 years in this state.”
Pinkins said he is “happy that we drew votes from Cindy Hyde-Smith,” and he now hopes Colom wins.
Pinkins previously ran for U.S. Senate and was the Democrat nominee against Republican Senator Roger Wicker in 2024. Pinkins lost that race, drawing 37% of the vote. Pinkins was also the substitute candidate for Democrats in the 2023 Secretary of State race, which he lost to incumbent Republican Michael Watson with Watson pulling in 60%.
As of Thursday morning, Colom has increased his lead over Hyde-Smith to 1,138 votes with precincts, affidavits, and mail-in absentee ballots still be counted over the coming days.
