Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom are both projecting confidence as their closely contested U.S. Senate race remained too close to call early Wednesday afternoon.
Mississippians turned out in droves on Tuesday, with some precincts reporting record midterm turnout. Nearly 945,600 ballots had been cast in the race between Hyde-Smith, Colom, and independent candidate Ty Pinkins, with 96% of votes counted.
As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, Associated Press results showed Colom holding a narrow 65-vote lead over Hyde-Smith, receiving 48.95% of the vote to Hyde-Smith’s 48.94%. Pinkins had garnered approximately 2%.
Even though Colom and Hyde-Smith both left their watch parties Tuesday night without knowing the outcome of the race, each expressed confidence in their campaigns on Wednesday, as it could be several days before a winner is declared.
“Mississippians turned out in strong numbers yesterday, and the race for U.S. Senate remains extremely close as counting continues,” Hyde-Smith campaign manager Jake Monssen said. “With the vast majority of Election Day ballots reported, the margin is measured by just dozens of votes. We have thousands of outstanding ballots, including affidavit and absentee ballots, which still must be processed under Mississippi law.
“Our campaign is closely monitoring the remaining count. We remain confident that when every legally cast vote is fully and accurately counted, Mississippians will have reelected Cindy Hyde-Smith.”
Colom, whose campaign estimates that as many as 15,000 affidavit ballots remain to be counted, went a step further Wednesday morning, declaring victory during a press conference.
Colom, whose team projects up to 15,000 affidavit ballots are among those left to be counted, went a step further and even declared an early victory during a Wednesday morning press conference.
“Where we are, where the ballots are, we’re going to win. This is our election. We’ve won it,” Colom said, according to WLBT. “The people have done it. They’ve decided to go in a new direction. I’m confident of that.”
Hyde-Smith, the state’s former agriculture commissioner, is seeking her second full term in the Senate. She was appointed to the position in April 2018 and won a special general election that fall by more than seven percentage points to serve the remainder of the term. She won reelection in 2020 by a 10-point margin.
However, questions surrounding Hyde-Smith’s effectiveness in Congress appear to have carried over to the ballot box this year, with the race shaping up to be the closest of her Senate career. Mississippi voters did not rebuke all Republican candidates, as seen in some other states, easily returning incumbent U.S. Reps. Trent Kelly, Michael Guest, and Mike Ezell to office.
Colom, a Columbus-based district attorney whose appointment to a federal judgeship was blocked by Hyde-Smith in 2023, is seeking to become the first Democrat elected to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate since 1982. Coincidentally, that is also the same year Colom was born.
