From blue slips to Bible verses: The spectacular downfall of antigay Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi

As the rest of the country moves forward from last week’s election, Mississippi’s GOP machine is currently trapped in the stages of grief, desperately searching for a reboot button that simply isn’t coming.

With an estimated 97% of votes counted, Democrat Scott Colom has maintained his small but mighty lead over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race, although the race has yet to be officially called. Election officials are still combing through the provisional ballots and will hopefully be finished soon.

Colom has made several public appearances since Election Day, stopping by local universities, a Black-owned bookshop, a vinyl record store, a diner, and a senior citizens center, plus multiple interviews with the media.

Meanwhile, Hyde-Smith has all but vanished from public view.

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The seemingly outgoing MAGA senator, who began her political career in the late 1990s as conservative Democrat before switching parties in 2010, hasn’t made any formal campaign speeches or in-person public statements. In fact, her only public communication has been on X. On Sunday morning, she posted a Bible verse about hope.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13” she tweeted.

Unfortunately for the senator, the comment section read less like a prayer circle and more like a roasting session.

“You lost, Cindy,” one person wrote. “God picked another Senator.”

“Colin got you quoting Scripture, it’s really over isn’t it?” another added.

“Its over, Cindy,” a third said. “Your only option is to concede.”

Hyde-Smith’s tweet came after Colom gave an interview at the senior citizens facility in Jackson on Friday calling on her to speak out.

“Ultimately, at some point, the senator needs to speak out,” he said. “Where is Cindy Hyde-Smith? We want to hear from her. She needs to answer questions. What is her path to victory? She doesn’t have one.”

When it comes to LGBTQ+ issues, Hyde-Smith’s record is pretty aggressively anti-equality.

A long-time opponent of marriage equality, she voted against the bipartisan Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which codified federal protections for same-sex and interracial marriages, claiming that “no ‘Christian’ can support this bill.”

She has consistently campaigned and voted against the Equality Act, opposing non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in housing, employment, and public accommodations, while frequently targeting transgender rights in her floor speeches.

And in 2023, she used her senatorial courtesy (aka her “blue slip”) to single-handedly block Colom’s nomination by President Biden to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, citing his support for trans rights as her reason for doing so.

Which leads us back to today…

43-year-old Colom appears poised to return that particular favor by ousting 67-year-old Hyde-Smith from her senate seat. When the race is finally called, and he is declared the victor, he will officially become the state’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction and its first elected Democratic senator since 1982.

Hyde-Smith’s Sunday morning scripture tweet got one thing right. Hope in the air. Just not for her.

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