Democrat Scott Colom’s supporters are urging Ty Pinkins to bow out to avoid “splitting the vote,” to which the Independent candidate said, “You have every right to support the candidate of your choice, just as I have every right to run for public office.”
Independent U.S. Senate candidate Ty Pinkins, a former Democrat, emphatically said Tuesday that he is not withdrawing from the race ahead of the General Election next week.
“TO THOSE CALLING ON ME TO DROP OUT OF THE U.S. SENATE RACE: NO. I WILL NOT WITHDRAW,” Pinkins posted on his Facebook page.
Democrat Scott Colom’s campaign continues to claim he is within striking distance of toppling incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith next Tuesday, causing many Colom supporters to openly lament Pinkins’ continued candidacy fearing it will cause the Democrat to lose.
Colom’s campaign shared a poll from Change Research on Friday that showed Hyde-Smith with 43% over Colom at 40%, with Pinkins at 6%. Similar polling results were published six years ago in Hyde-Smith’s race versus Democrat Mike Espy, yet when the votes were tallied, the Republican won by 10%.
As of Tuesday, Polymarket continues to view Hyde-Smith as the odds-on favorite, with an 87% chance of winning.
Colom’s supporters are urging Pinkins to bow out to avoid “splitting the vote,” telling Pinkins on Facebook, “We are only asking you to align with Colom to get us over the threshold,” and, “Please understand the bigger picture.”
“Putting your ego aside and withdrawing your candidacy will serve your citizens far better than staying in a race you will clearly lose,” one commenter told Pinkins, while another said, “The projections have you so far behind and that’s not going to change in the next 7 days. We need a change in MS and Colom is our chance to make it happen.”
However, Pinkins said he served the country honorably in uniform for 21 years, including multiple combat tours and more than three years at war.
“I nearly lost my life in combat defending the very rights that allow Americans—including both of my opponents—to participate freely in our democratic process,” Pinkins wrote. “And now, some of those same Americans are asking me to surrender those rights because my candidacy doesn’t align with their political preferences? I did not spend 21 years defending the constitutional rights of others only to be told that I should surrender those same rights myself.”
Pinkins went on to write, “You have every right to support the candidate of your choice, just as I have every right to run for public office. And Mississippi voters have every right to decide for themselves. Our democracy does not belong to either political party. It belongs to the American people. NO. I WILL NOT WITHDRAW.”
The Delta-based attorney left the Democratic Party in July 2025 after he had announced his second run for U.S. Senate just months earlier.
Pinkins lost his first run for U.S. Senate in November 2024 to U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R), only able to muster just over 37% of the vote. His campaign was interrupted in 2023 when the Mississippi Democratic Party tapped him to be the substitute candidate in the Secretary of State race in the General Election. Pinkins, who entered the race in September that year, went on to lose to Secretary of State Michael Watson (R) by 19 points, pulling in just over 40% off the vote.
Still believing he could raise his profile and increase his competitiveness, Pinkins stepped up again to run for the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in the 2026 midterms, this time versus Hyde-Smith.
However, a rift emerged between him and the leaders in the Mississippi Democratic Party. Pinkins told Magnolia Tribune last year that he was urged – more than once – to “make room” for someone else. The someone else was Colom, the party’s nominee in this year’s General Election.
That gatekeeping mentality, Pinkins said at the time, has pushed the Mississippi Democratic Party to a point “where the party doesn’t just lack a bench—it’s created a climate where the next generation of leaders is too intimidated to even step up to bat, afraid they’ll be punished, ignored, or publicly ridiculed for daring to lead without permission.”
Pinkins said of his leaving the Democratic Party that his personal experiences with party insiders showed that they have prioritized fundraising over values and vision.
-- Article credit to Frank Corder for the Magnolia Tribune --
