Democrat Scott Colom has won election to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi, the Associated Press called on Wednesday evening, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith after eight days of counting in the closest Senate race in the country. Hyde-Smith conceded in a video message shortly after the call.
Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, will become Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction — the first since Blanche K. Bruce left office in 1881 — and the first Democrat the state has elected to the Senate since 1982. He is also the first Black person elected to the Senate from Mississippi by popular vote.
The race was decided by a razor-thin margin. Colom led Hyde-Smith by just 43 votes after the final election-night update from Pike County at 3:03 a.m. ET, and his lead grew as counties finished counting absentee and affidavit — or provisional — ballots. By Wednesday his lead stood at roughly 4,669 votes, about 49.2 percent to 48.7 percent, with about 99 percent of the vote reported. The AP said he won all 12 county updates released on Wednesday, including 2,173 more votes from Jackson County. The results remain unofficial pending certification; counties must submit certified results by November 13.
Hyde-Smith, who has served in the Senate since 2018 and was endorsed by President Donald Trump, was seeking a second full term. She is the same senator who blocked Colom's nomination to become a federal judge in 2023.
Colom's victory expands the majority Democrats will hold in the new Congress to 55 seats, with the race in Alaska still undecided. His campaign was built around affordability and voter outreach in a state long dominated by white conservatives.
