‘Pick another protein’: A cattle rancher senator’s answer on beef prices could give Democrats their first Mississippi Senate win since 1982

Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith’s remark that consumers could “pick another protein” amid high beef prices has become the defining issue in Mississippi’s Senate race, after Democratic challenger Scott Colom featured the line in an ad that went viral following President Trump’s dismissal of affordability as a “fake word.” Colom, a district attorney, is now within striking distance of becoming the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since 1982, as cattle ranchers’ margins and grocery bills dominate the contest. Hyde-Smith, a cattle rancher herself, made the comment while defending elevated beef prices that have squeezed household budgets. The race is a test of whether cost-of-living frustration can overcome Mississippi’s deep Republican lean, in a state Trump carried comfortably in 2024. Watch whether national Democrats pour money into the contest in its final weeks and whether Hyde-Smith shifts her message on grocery costs.