Turns out, Mississippi voters were paying attention in the Colom, Hyde-Smith Senate race

For closing in on a decade, all a Mississippi Republican candidate needed was an endorsement from Donald Trump and to run ’round parroting the red-meat social phobias he peddled.

No need to propose any real policy. 

No need to push back against anything Trump did or didn’t do –  even if it hurt Mississippi – or anything he said, no matter how awful. 

Heck, no need to really campaign very hard. A blessing from Trump and pledge to blindly follow him was a Willy Wonka golden ticket for a Mississippi Republican politician.

Until it wasn’t.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, the law of political gravity reasserted itself in Mississippi, for Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

As final votes trickle in, she’s still trailing Democratic challenger Scott Colom, and her defeat looks likely, although, in true Trump fashion, Mississippi GOP leadership has vowed to “fight like hell” as final vote counting is done, whatever that means. Hyde-Smith herself, as she is wont to do, has gone to ground, not been seen in person since election night.

Win or lose, Mississippi voters sent Hyde-Smith and state Republican leaders some messages:

Turns out you can’t just go along without a peep with tariffs, trade wars, shooting wars and big beautiful bills that hammer Mississippians in their pocketbooks and take away access to health care.

Turns out you can’t hide from constituents and back-home media, going for years without holding town halls, granting only the rare, curated interview with friendly media and making a few social media posts. An occasional breakfast at Mama Hamil’s with local Republican leaders and politicians is not constituent outreach.

Turns out saying Mississippians have “so many proteins to choose from” when asked about the exorbitant price of beef you helped bring about is not good messaging. (See also, Marie Antoinette.)

Turns out heavy-handed purges of voter rolls expected to thwart the other side can come back and bite Republicans in the butt.

Turns out threats of Trump-led redistricting, a thinly veiled attempt to suppress Democratic voters, can drive turnout of the very voters you plan to suppress. (Note to state Legislature: RAFO, redistrict and find out. You really sure you want to make districts a little more competitive right now in an attempt to gerrymander the maps overall for Republicans? See also, Texas.)

Turns out complacency, and abandoning the principles your party once espoused about government spending, national debt and free markets, will eventually turn off some of your Republican base, even in Mississippi. 

Turns out a last-minute Trump rally, held in an area you already have sewn up, doesn’t do much good. It might even drive turnout for your opponent.

Turns out you might have to actually campaign, even if you’re a Republican incumbent, to get reelected in Mississippi. (See also, Thad Cochran, 2014.)

And it turns out, you might have to actually do your job in Congress, particularly the part about being a check on executive power and corruption.

It appears it will take a few more days, and counting a few more votes to determine whether the big blue national wave also engulfed Mississippi. But it certainly lapped at its shores at a minimum.

Turns out, Mississippi voters have been paying attention.