Red state's 'GOP is panicking' as Dem candidate touts unexpected surge

The Mississippi GOP is panicking, according to a hopeful candidate.The chair of the Mississippi Republican Party is sounding the alarm about a statewide race that recent polling shows has tightened into a statistical tie, warning fellow Republicans against complacency as Democrat Scott Colom continues to gain ground against former Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.We can't sit back, the Mississippi GOP chair said, according to a campaign email from the Colom campaign. We can't have this comfortable mentality that Mississippi is just a red state and we win every time.Colom, a seventh-generation Mississippian and current district attorney, has built a grassroots campaign that his team says has rattled state Republicans enough to prompt the unusually candid admission from their own party chair.The race is drawing national attention as Democrats look for pickup opportunities in states that have long been considered safely Republican. Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in decades, making any competitive polling a significant data point for strategists on both sides.Hyde-Smith, who has served in the Senate since 2018, has faced scrutiny throughout her tenure, including past comments about a public hanging that generated widespread criticism during her first campaign.The Colom campaign cited the GOP chair's remarks as evidence that their organizing efforts are being felt. Whether the momentum holds through November remains to be seen, but the Republican Party's own leadership appears to be taking the threat seriously.