In the final weeks of the midterm election cycle, Mississippi Democrat Scott Colom and his rag-tag campaign staff threw together a brilliant online-only campaign ad. They picked up on a clip of Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith being asked about the exorbitant beef prices under Trump, with Hyde-Smith saying that “you know, you have so many proteins…” The genius of Colom’s ad was its simplicity – three people saying variations of “Pick another protein? I think I’ll pick another senator instead.” It was a perfect message for the final weeks, and Colom supporters were quoting it far and wide. The most quotable section is the young-ish white guy saying, in a thick Southern accent, “Pick another protein? Sheeeeet, I’d rather pick another senator instead.” The ad went crazy-viral as the votes were slowly being counted for a week after the election, and now that Colom has officially won the Senate seat, the NY Times decided to track down the hilarious Sheeeeet man. Turns out, he wasn’t even supposed to be in the ad!

Russ Hudson was not supposed to be in Scott Colom’s protein ad. 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’s 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.

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’s parent’s house and tossed his head back to deliver a drawling, deadpan rebuke of Ms. Hyde-Smith.

“Shee-it,” Mr. Hudson says in the spot, rendering the off-color word with a distinct southern twang. “I’d rather pick another senator, instead.”

The lines, he said, felt natural. He left thinking maybe a couple thousand people would see it.

“I just did it like a Mississippian would,” Mr. Hudson said in an interview.

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’s campaign and his surge to a stunning upset.

“I never expected it to do what it did,” Mr. Hudson said. He even downloaded TikTok to keep up with all the commentary his friends were sending him about the ad. Someone made him a “pick another protein” shirt with his face on it, along with the other two women in the ad. And he keeps fielding requests to, well, say it again.

“They make me throw my head back with it, too,” he said.

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’s 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.

“A lot of people don’t know much about Mississippi,” he said. “And look at us now. We’re worldwide.”

[From The NY Times]

It’s true, it’s worldwide. It’s one of those funny regional-American things which fascinate outsiders, be they Northerners or Europeans. I guarantee there are people around the world mimicking him and saying “Pick another protein? Sheeeet” and laughing to themselves. Someone said that if this ad had come out ten years ago, Russ Hudson would have already been on The Ellen Show like five times. I can’t believe that one of the morning shows haven’t invited him on – he sounds like a cool guy? A veteran, a father, a Scott Colom supporter. Someone get him an agent!

Screencaps from Scott Colom’s ad.