Democrat Scott Colom wins Mississippi Senate race, breaks GOP’s grip in stunning upset

In a stunning upset, Democrat Scott Colom won Mississippi’s US Senate race on Wednesday after days of counting, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become the Southern state’s first Black ‌senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the US Civil War.

Mississippi officials took days to count ballots in a race that was ⁠so tight that at times Colom led by only a few dozen votes. After several days of ballot counting and back-and-forth, Colom was projected to be the winner, flipping a deep-red state.

Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, became the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982.

Hyde-Smith, 67, who was first elected in 2018, had consistently led in opinion polls in a state that President Donald Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024.

The last Black candidate elected to the Senate in Mississippi ⁠was former slave Blanche Bruce in 1874.

In 2023, Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s nomination by former President Joe Biden to serve as a federal district judge in northern Mississippi, ⁠citing his position on transgender issues.

Colom first Democrat elected to Senate from Mississippi since 1982

Colom has become the first Democrat elected to the Senate in Mississippi since 1982 by flipping the reddest seat yet in this year’s midterms.

Mississippi last elected a Democrat to the Senate 44 years ago, just a few weeks before Colom was born in 1982.

Colom’s victory means Democrats will hold at least 55 Senate seats next year. The only Senate race left to be called is in Alaska.

In late October, Senate Majority PAC, a top Democratic super PAC, announced an ad campaign in the state through Election Day, starting with a 30-second spot that presented Colom as a crusader who would “fight corruption in both parties.” The group ended up spending nearly $2.1 million on the airwaves.

The GOP super PAC Senate Leadership Fund responded with a similar-sized buy, airing ads that painted Colom as “too liberal” and “too radical.”

Hyde-Smith, a former Mississippi agriculture commissioner who was appointed to the Senate in 2018 and won a full term in 2020, campaigned as a reliable conservative and attempted to portray Colom as a “radical” progressive. She also touted her loyalty to Trump, who endorsed her more than a year before the midterms and said she was “100% MAGA.”

Hyde-Smith concedes to Scott Colom in Mississippi Senate race

Hyde-Smith conceded to Scott Colom in Mississippi’s Senate race late Wednesday evening, marking a stunning victory for Democrats in the ruby-red state after its razor-thin margin remained too close to call for over a week.

“While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” Hyde-Smith said in a video message.

“I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”