Meet the Man Behind Scott Colom’s Viral Senate Campaign Ads

Ryan Sayles was exhausted the day he shot what would become one of the most-talked about political ads of the 2026 midterms.

The 27-year-old content creator was celebrating homecoming at Alcorn State, his alma mater, when Democrat Scott Colom’s U.S. Senate campaign team wanted him to film the commercial that would go viral. “I’m really tired, and I’m out here for homecoming,” he said. “But OK, I’ll drive.” On a Friday morning in early October, he drove about two and a half hours to Columbus, Mississippi, to shoot it. “I filmed that video, and then I went back and enjoyed homecoming, and then I edited on a Sunday,” Sayles said.

The spot was a response to comments made by Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in February, when she was asked in an interview with WLOX about rising beef prices. She said that Mississippians had “so many proteins to choose from,” suggesting shoppers pick a different protein should beef be too expensive. In the ad, visibly irritated Mississippians at the grill, in a diner, and in a grocery store said they would rather “pick another senator instead.”

After Colom posted the ad on X on Oct. 13., it drew 2.8 million views in its first 36 hours, and had passed 16 million by Nov. 6, Yahoo News reported — at least four times as many as the video of Barack Obama’s endorsement of Colom. “Pick another senator” became a slogan for the campaign.

“It crazy,” Sayles said of the ad’s success. 

Colom went on to defeat Hyde-Smith, becoming Mississippi’s first Black senator in more than 150 years. At his victory rally at Tougaloo College on Nov. 11, he spoke in front of a sign that read “Picked Another Senator,” Newsweek reported.

Sayles also gave the campaign’s viral Halloween ad its name. The spoof of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, the film set in the Mississippi Delta, casts Colom and his identical twin brother, Andrew, as the movie’s twins, guarding a door against a Hyde-Smith lookalike who begs to be let in. Sayles titled it “Sinators.”

Colom has been quick to give Sayles, who had never worked on a political campaign before, credit for his work. The day after the election, he wrote on X that Sayles should be considered the breakout star of the cycle and did “GAME CHANGING work with SO little.” Sayles is just as quick to pass it along. 

“I’m getting a lot of credit right now, and I appreciate it,” he said. “But make no mistake, this was a collaborative effort.”

Capital B spoke with Sayles about how the protein ad came together, why the campaign took the risk, why he thinks it resonated with people within Mississippi and across the country, and how he coached the delivery of the ad’s breakout line — “Shiiii.”  

Capital B: Walk me through how the protein ad came together.

Ryan Sayles: Andrew Colom, Scott’s brother, along with Scott and Gerard Henderson, wrote the script for it. Basically presented it to me as like, “Hey, we really need to do this. I think it’d be a really good idea.” I had no idea that it was gonna be what it was. I definitely did not know that it would be this big. 

And what’s your favorite moment?

I mean, come on now. You know it was my guy saying “Shiiii.” That was the part that did it, man. He changed the course of history with that, and that was definitely the best part. I had to coach him through that part a little bit, because the first time he said it, it wasn’t from the soul. You know what I mean? We needed to reach down and get that one. So that was very fun, though. And I knew from then. I was like, it’s gonna be good.

Our content was well known around Mississippi. When I thought about a video doing good, I’m like, yeah, a lot of people in Mississippi see it. I wasn’t in the mindset of, a lot of people in the world gonna see this. That had never crossed my mind. I was on CNN [Thursday], and I was like, “What am I doing on CNN?” 

Another breakout ad for Colom’s campaign was “Sinators.” Walk me through it. How did it come together, and what were you trying to say about Mississippi?

With “Sinators,” [cameraman] Kayland Partee did his thing. You would think a lot of people filmed that. Kayland Partee filmed that with one camera by himself, and some guys helped with lighting. Andrew Colom wrote that script, and he did an amazing job. That is Scott’s identical twin brother. A lot of people thought that was like an AI thing or something, but that was Scott and his identical twin brother, Andrew. 

I did come up with the name “Sinators.” That’s the one thing I did. Like two hours before we posted, I was like, “What if we named it ‘Sinators’ instead?” That was my little sprinkle.

I think the reason it worked [is] because, of course, a lot of people love the movie Sinners, but also it’s Mississippi. The movie Sinners was based out of Mississippi. It spoke to so many stories and had so many analogies, and I think that was something that we tapped into, while also showcasing the fact that people want to move in a new direction and elect Scott Colom. So I think it was dope. 

You thought mostly Mississippians would see it. What has the response from around the country been like?

I ain’t gonna lie to you. I’ve been trying to take this in, and I got so many family members and friends that are just expressing how happy they are about the recognition. They’ve seen me working for a very long time. They’ve seen the stress that a campaign brings to me. I’ll make a joke: I got two gray hairs. I named one Scott and the other Colom. But yeah, it’s been great.

Around the country, I’m seeing so many people just quoting the ad and saying how much that ad has meant to them. I’m getting thank-you messages from people in California, and I’m like, thank you for what? And they [say], The ad, it helped. It inspired us. It made us feel hope.” And Mississippi now has a Democratic senator, the first Black senator to be elected by Mississippians. All of that is just amazing. I’m blessed to be a part of it. 

Why do you think the ad landed with people who can’t even vote in this race?

I think the main thing that landed with people is, of course, he was speaking how a lot of people in America feel right now. People are fed up. The other part of this that made this ad be appreciated in a different way was the fact that Scott was in the ad for five seconds. It wasn’t about him. It was about Mississippi. It was about people and how voters feel. And I think a lot of times in these political spaces, a lot of candidates can forget that this is not about them. It’s about the people that they are serving, and I think that’s one thing that Scott holds dear and close to his heart, is that his responsibility is to the people of Mississippi.

What does it mean to you to be part of this history-making campaign?

Man, it means the world to me. I’m getting a lot of love nationally, a lot of credit. But I do want to say that the biggest thing in this moment for me is really making sure I stay grounded and understand that this is because of the work of so many people. This moment that Scott is able to have right now is because of the work of so many people, and I’m just blessed to be a part of it.

My grandmother graduated from Tougaloo [where Colom’s victory rally was held]. My auntie Alva graduated from Tougaloo College. My grandmother marched alongside the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. There’s so much history in Mississippi. People have fought very hard for this moment.”

And being from Mississippi, being from Jackson, I know what Mississippi faces. I know the struggles that we have. I know that a lot of times, people don’t feel seen in Mississippi. But I know for a fact, this moment right here, Mississippi feels seen. Everybody in Mississippi feels this. They feel love, they see the support, and it brought hope back to Mississippi, man. A lot of people leave saying Mississippi will never change, but this is a huge step in a new direction for our state. I’m glad to be a part of it.

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