Lots to love here. But check out the video at about 2:35, which reports that Scott Colom is substantially ahead in Forrest County, Mississippi, named for General Nathan Bedford Forrest—owner of a slave jail before the Civil War, Confederate cavalry leader, murderer of Black Union soldiers, and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
I’m sorry, but this is personal for me, because my great-great-grandfather Davis took his horse to war and served in the cavalry under Forrest’s command. I hope he didn’t murder any Black soldiers, but history seems to be silent on that question.
Forrest County, where Hattiesburg is located, has fewer than 80,000 inhabitants. As of the 2020 census, 55% of them identified as White, 36% as Black, 3% as mixed race, 4% as Latino, and the rest as something else. In 2024, Trump carried Forrest County by 58% to 40%; in other words, two years ago, all the White people in Forrest County voted for Trump.
As of late this afternoon, with about 97% of the votes in, Scott Colom, the Black Democratic candidate for senator, leads in Forrest County by 54% to 43%.
It seems that about one fifth of the White voters in Hattiesburg have decided to secede from the Confederacy.
It’s about bloody time. But, still, it’s gratifying.
