One week after nearly a million voters cast their ballots, the results are in. Mississippians picked a new U.S. senator: Scott Colom, the district attorney from Columbus. Colom defeated incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith to become the first Black person the state has sent to the Senate in more than 150 years. He received 49% of […]
Aallyah Wright
Aallyah Wright is the rural issues reporter for Capital B. From farmers to land fights to health care and jobs, her reporting explores the issues that matter most while celebrating culture and joy.
Follow her on Bluesky @aallyahpatrice.bsky.social and Instagram @journalistaallyah.
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Roadblocks, Police Patrols Fuel Voter Intimidation Concerns in Mississippi
Catherine Robinson is exhausted. For the past week, she and other organizers have been working overtime to ensure voters’ ballots are counted in the U.S. Senate race in her home state of Mississippi. They deployed monitors to observe the count and sent messages to inform voters of how to rectify issues they experienced on Election […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
As Mississippi Counts Vote, Ballot Monitors Say They’re Being Shut Out
Photos by Eric Truman-Reeves for ‘Sipp Talk Media CANTON, Mississippi — It took Natt Offiah an hour to realize he had arrived at the wrong location to monitor the provisional and absentee ballots in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race. He drove to Madison County Circuit Clerk’s Office on Wednesday, but the building was under construction. […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Elections, Politics & Policy
Black Democrats Made History, So Did a Black Farmer
On Election Day, Black women in Georgia broke barriers in more ways than one. Voters there not only elected the first Black woman governor in U.S. history, but also chose Katherine Juhan-Arnold as the state’s first woman and Black commissioner of agriculture. “Georgia, we did it! I am overwhelmed with gratitude,” Juhan-Arnold wrote in a […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Black Congressional Representation Holds Steady Despite Fears of Steep Losses
One concern weighing on Black voters this year was: How many of their representatives — in particular those in the Congressional Black Caucus — would still have their seats after the 2026 midterm elections? That worry sprang from a specific source. Black voters were at risk of losing as many as 19 House seats as […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
Mississippi Could Elect Its First Black U.S. Senator Since Reconstruction
Every Sunday at church, Pauline Rogers remembers someone in the little broom closet registering people to vote in rural Vancleave, Mississippi. Back then, conversations about voting were like “brushing your teeth, washing your face, or making your bed.” Everyone knew it was their duty, the 66-year-old recalled. “There were clerks that actually kept records in […]
Posted inAgriculture, Economy
USDA Plans $8 Billion Relief Package for Farmers, but Some Say It’s a Little Too Late
During this planting session, farmer Jay Huggins didn’t have much to complain about. The 37-year-old row crop farmer planted his corn and soybeans with minimal challenges. He didn’t battle drought or excessive weather conditions on his 1,000-acre farm in Okolona, Mississippi. His harvest this year didn’t leave him “in the red.” “The fields I’ve been […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy
A Black Farmer Is Running to Become Louisiana’s Next U.S. Senator
NEW IBERIA, Louisiana — On a humid September afternoon, wedged between high stalks of sugarcane and old tractors, Jamie Davis felt right at home. He had traveled 170 miles from Waterproof, Louisiana, a 91% Black town that’s home to 576 people, to New Iberia, a bigger city, on another Black-owned farm. There, Davis and a […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
The Push to Reach Forgotten Black Voters Ahead of the Midterm Elections
Kamora Greggs returned to her college campus with voting on her mind. She’d just visited her home in Jackson, Mississippi, about three hours away, when her mom encouraged her to exercise her right. “And don’t have anybody change your mind about what you want to do,” Greggs recalled. As a first time voter, the 19-year-old […]
Posted inBlack Farmers, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues
A Key Voice for Farmers of Color at USDA Has Gone Silent Under Trump
Sarah Bell had completed only one year of her two-year term on a federal committee to help farmers of color before she learned the work would be “on pause.” In 2024, Bell, an Asian American farmer in the South, was one of 15 appointees on the Advisory Committee on Minority Farmers. The committee was established […]
