Democrat Scott Colom wins closely-watched US Senate race in Mississippi

SaveSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkDistrict Attorney and Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom speaks to a reporter on Tuesday in Jackson, Mississippi [Brandon Bell/Getty Images via AFP)]By Evan SemonesPublished On 11 Nov 202611 Nov 2026Democrat Scott Colom has won Mississippi’s closely watched United States Senate race, giving his party a rare, historic victory in a Republican stronghold that has eluded them for decades.Colom, a prosecutor who will become the state’s first Black senator in more than 140 years, garnered a narrow victory on Wednesday over incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in one of the US midterms’ biggest upsets.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Can Democrats shed some new light on the Epstein files when they take over?list 2 of 3What’s delaying the US Senate election results in Mississippi and Alaska?list 3 of 3Which key races remain undecided one week after the US midterms?end of listThe win builds on Democrats’ success after the party delivered an electoral drubbing last Tuesday, winning at least eight US Senate seats that are currently held by Republicans. A US Senate race in Alaska remains uncalled.For more than a week, the Mississippi contest has remained too close to call as election officials worked to count more than 100,000 mail-in ballots. Thousands of other residents, who could not confirm their registration at voting sites, cast provisional ballots that required confirmation of their eligibility.US Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith appears with President Donald Trump at a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi [File: Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo]Colom and Hyde-Smith took markedly different approaches as remaining ballots were counted.Hyde-Smith, who was not seen publicly until she returned to Washington this week as the Senate returned to session, had expressed confidence she would win after “every legally cast vote is fully and accurately counted”. But after the election, Colom continued to hold a series of public events where he castigated his opponent.“Ultimately, at some point, the senator needs to speak out. Where is Cindy Hyde-Smith?” Colom told reporters on Friday in Jackson, Mississippi. “We want to hear from her. She needs to answer questions. What is her path to victory? She doesn’t have one”.The US Senate race also was not the first time the two had crossed political paths. Hyde-Smith, citing concerns about Colom’s position on transgender athletes, previously blocked him from serving as a federal judge in 2023 after he was nominated by former US President Joe Biden. The position had required Senate approval.Colom’s win defies political gravity in a state that US President Donald Trump won by just over 22 points in the 2024 presidential election.The last Democrat to win a US Senate race in Mississippi was 1982, when John Stennis claimed victory over Republican challenger Haley Barbour, who later became governor of the state.Colom, who has been a proponent of raising the minimum wage, increasing protections for rural hospitals and ending the US war in Iran, will be sworn in next January. He will be the chamber’s seventh Black lawmaker.