Ty Pinkins is still answering the question that defined Mississippi’s historic U.S. Senate race: Did his independent campaign cost Democrat Scott Colom the election? Pinkins, a Black man, received nearly 20,000 votes. With Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith separated by just over 2,000 votes, Pinkins is defending his decision to stay in the race, arguing that he drew voters away from Republicans rather than Democrats.
In a recent interview with Roland Martin, Ty Pinkins argued that staying in the race was the only way to give Colom a fighting chance against the Republican incumbent. “The only way either one of us would have a chance is if the independent holds [Hyde-Smith] below 50%,” Pinkins told Martin. He pointed to county-level results, saying 77% of his votes came from traditionally Republican counties and that 12 of his top 13 vote-getting counties were Republican strongholds.
Martin pushed back, though, arguing that Pinkins, a former Democrat, spent much of his campaign criticizing Colom instead of building with him. The irony wasn’t lost on Martin either: both Colom and Pinkins are members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., which should have created natural common ground. According to Pinkins, he never had the chance to discuss his strategy directly with Colom.
This wasn’t the first time Pinkins addressed the decision to stay in the race. In a CNN interview, he cited polling from April showing approximately 70% of his potential supporters were traditionally Republican voters. That pattern held through the summer and into the fall, he said, reinforcing his belief that his candidacy ultimately weakened Hyde-Smith’s support.
“You can’t assume that all of those votes would have went right back to Scott Colom when a Republican has won 15 straight times over the last 50 years in this state,” Pinkins told CNN.
Pinkins is referencing Mississippi’s electoral history. In the 1978 Senate race, Republican Thad Cochran won with 45.3% of the vote while two independent candidates, including civil rights leader Charles Evers, were also on the ballot. “If you look at the history of voting in Mississippi, you have to take into consideration that only on two occasions over the past 50 years has a Republican been held below 50%,” Pinkins said. “And on both of those occasions, an independent was in the race.”
Local election data lends some weight to his geographic argument. According to WTVA, Pinkins received 3% of the vote in Harrison County, 2.4% in DeSoto, 2.3% in Rankin, 2.7% in Jackson, 4.5% in Hancock, 1.5% in Madison, 3.3% in Jones, 4% in Pearl River, and 3% in Lamar. These are counties that have historically leaned Republican.
But county results alone don’t tell the full story. They can’t show how individual Pinkins voters would have voted had he not been on the ballot, nor do they independently verify his claim about the geographic breakdown of his support. The question of vote-splitting remains unresolved.
Still, Pinkins said his intention was to challenge Hyde-Smith, not undermine Colom. Despite running competitively in a deep red state, he expressed hope that Colom would ultimately prevail.
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