Jeffrey Hulum III has spent much of his life stepping up when he believed he was needed.

In 2026, that placed him in a critical congressional race in South Mississippi.

And he brought with him something that cannot be manufactured.

A record of service.

Hulum grew up in Gulfport and joined the United States Army at 18 years old.

During his 22-year career, Hulum served six combat tours before retiring as a Sergeant Major.

But retirement from the Army did not mean retirement from service.

Back in Gulfport, Hulum founded the nonprofit Extend A Hand, Help A Friend and began working to address food insecurity in communities along the Gulf Coast.

Hulum eventually carried that work into politics.

He first ran for the Mississippi House in 2019 and lost. But when House District 119 opened in 2022, Hulum ran again and won.

He has represented House District 119 in the Mississippi Legislature ever since.

Then, near the end of 2025, Hulum announced that he would seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in Mississippi’s Fourth District.

The district has not elected a Democrat to Congress since 2008.

But Hulum has already spent years working with many of the people he is now asking to represent.

He won the Democratic primary in March.

And almost immediately, Hulum took his campaign on the road.

He has spent much of 2026 traveling South Mississippi, holding town halls, and meeting voters throughout the district.

Hulum says he has held town halls across all 12 counties in the district.

His explanation for doing it is simple.

People should be able to see the person asking to represent them, question them, and hold them accountable.

That approach fits Hulum.

And he has also made unity a central part of his campaign.

He told Mississippi Today that the country and his community have become too divided and that he wants to bring people together around the well-being of their neighbors.

That message comes from someone who has seen unity from a perspective few politicians have.

Hulum spent more than two decades serving beside Americans from different backgrounds and witnessed young Americans die during combat deployments.

He later wrote about those experiences and the obligation he believes Americans have to remember the sacrifices made by all people who served the country, no matter what they look like.

Hulum believes that is how politicians should serve.

Now he is asking South Mississippi for another opportunity to serve, this time in the United States House representing Mississippi’s Fourth District.

And his story of service fittingly concludes the Mississippi Gazette’s series on the five Democrats running for federal office in Mississippi this year.

The Mississippi Democratic Party has reached a moment when increasing voter participation matters enormously to its future.

The candidates on the federal ticket this year came to politics from very different backgrounds.

But each has tried, in his own way, to show up, remain accountable to the people, and give Mississippi Democrats a reason to vote on November 3.

Now their campaigns depend on whether people answer that call.

Political movements are not built by one person or even a small group of people.

And in 2026, the Mississippi Democratic Party needs people from communities across the state to encourage friends and family not to sit this election out.

That also means thinking beyond just this election.

What happens in 2026 will help determine whether Democrats can continue building the organization and making the investments necessary to compete in the years ahead.

The Mississippi Democratic Party and its five federal nominees have done all that candidates can do.

But they cannot write the closing chapter in 2026.

What happens next belongs to Mississippi’s voters.

On November 3, they get to write the ending of this story.