{"id":52651,"date":"2026-11-12T04:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-11-12T04:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=52651"},"modified":"2026-11-12T04:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-11-12T04:31:34","slug":"streets-erupt-in-celebration-after-coloms-historic-win-in-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/?p=52651","title":{"rendered":"Streets Erupt in Celebration After Colom\u2019s Historic Win in Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/p>\n

Nov. 11, 2026, 8:00 p.m. ET<\/span><\/p>\n

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The man at the center of Scott Colom\u2019s protein ad never expected to become famous. <\/h3>\n

Russ Hudson\u2019s role in an online ad mocking Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican of Mississippi, went viral in the closing days of the campaign. <\/span>Credit…<\/span>Scott Colom for Senate<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Russ Hudson was not supposed to be in Scott Colom\u2019s protein ad.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hudson, 35, had known the district attorney for about a decade before Mr. Colom became the Democratic candidate for Senate in Mississippi. But it was Mr. Hudson\u2019s father who was initially cast in the campaign ad mocking a suggestion from Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican incumbent, that Mississippi residents pick another type of protein to avoid rising beef prices.<\/p>\n

When the elder Mr. Hudson balked at a script that would require him to utter profanity on camera, his son volunteered. In a short-sleeved button down shirt, he stood at a grill in the backyard of Mr. Colom\u2019s parent\u2019s house and tossed his head back to deliver a drawling, deadpan rebuke of Ms. Hyde-Smith.<\/p>\n

\u201cShee-it,\u201d Mr. Hudson says in the spot, rendering the off-color word with a distinct southern twang. \u201cI\u2019d rather pick another senator, instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lines, he said, felt natural. He left thinking maybe a couple thousand people would see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just did it like a Mississippian would,\u201d Mr. Hudson said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Now, Mr. Hudson, an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, has found himself as the unlikely face of one of the most potent campaign advertisements of the 2026 midterm cycle. The ad, released in the final weeks of the election season, became a defining feature of Mr. Colom\u2019s campaign and his surge to a stunning upset.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never expected it to do what it did,\u201d Mr. Hudson said.<\/p>\n

He even downloaded TikTok to keep up with all the commentary his friends were sending him about the ad. Someone made him a \u201cpick another protein\u201d shirt with his face on it, along with the other two women in the ad.<\/p>\n

And he keeps fielding requests to, well, say it again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey make me throw my head back with it, too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hudson, who said he has been mocked for his Southern twang outside of the state, had not been heavily involved in politics. As a disabled veteran on a fixed income and father to an infant, he was drawn to Mr. Colom\u2019s pledges to focus on high costs and protecting benefits for veterans, as well as the personal connection. The ad, he figured, was his contribution to the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know much about Mississippi,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd look at us now. We\u2019re worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Show more<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nov. 11, 2026, 8:00 p.m. ET The man at the center of Scott Colom\u2019s protein ad never expected to become famous. Russ Hudson\u2019s role in an online ad mocking Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican of Mississippi, went viral in the closing days of the campaign. Credit…Scott Colom for Senate Russ Hudson was not supposed to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[20429,25429,22325,1022,5084,2382,1259],"class_list":{"0":"post-52651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-celebration","9":"tag-coloms","10":"tag-erupt","11":"tag-historic","12":"tag-mississippi","13":"tag-streets","14":"tag-win"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}