Democrat Colom flips Mississippi in historic Senate upset
SCMP · 3 SOURCESabout 6 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Democratic challenger Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s US Senate race, according to media projections published on Wednesday. The result makes Colom the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since 1982 and, according to the South China Morning Post, the state’s first black senator since the Reconstruction era after the US Civil War.
Key Points
- CNN and NBC News projected Colom’s victory on Wednesday, after Mississippi officials spent more than a week counting ballots in the closely fought race.
- As of 6 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, Colom had 473,336 votes, or 49.2 percent, against Hyde-Smith’s 468,667, or 48.7 percent
- NBC News estimated about 12,000 votes still remained to be reviewed, while media-tabulated results cited by SCMP showed Colom ahead by more than 4,500 votes.
- 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, was first elected in 2018 and had led opinion polls in a state Donald Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024
Why It Matters
The Mississippi result adds to a broader Democratic surge in the November 3 midterms, which SCMP said left Democrats with a 55-44 Senate advantage, with one Alaska race still undecided, and 254 House seats to Republicans’ 168, with 13 races uncalled. For Hong Kong readers tracking Washington, a Democratic-controlled Congress can now block highly partisan legislation and intensify investigations into President Donald Trump’s administration, potentially affecting US policy direction more broadly