Democrat Scott Colom has made Mississippi history, unseating Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a race that remained undecided for eight days after the polls closed.
The Associated Press called the race Wednesday afternoon, with Colom leading by approximately 4,700 votes with 99% of ballots counted. The call followed the review and counting of tens of thousands of affidavit and provisional ballots.
Sources close to the race told SuperTalk Mississippi News that Hyde-Smith called Colom and conceded moments before the AP declared him the winner.
According to AP results at the time of the call, Colom received 49.2% of the vote, compared to Hyde-Smith’s 48.7%. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins received 2.1%.
Historical victory
Colom, a district attorney from Columbus who decided to challenge Hyde-Smith after she blocked his nomination to become a federal judge, is the first Democrat elected to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate since 1982.
But Mississippi’s political history is more complicated than party labels alone suggest. Although the Democratic and Republican parties underwent significant ideological shifts in the decades following the Civil War, much of the Deep South was slower to realign politically, with many conservative white Southern politicians continuing to identify as Democrats well into the 20th century.
John Stennis, the last Democrat elected to represent Mississippi in the Senate before Colom, served from 1947 to 1988. A staunch segregationist, Stennis was a co-author of the 1956 “Southern Manifesto,” which condemned the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. He also opposed federal efforts to advance civil rights and protect Black Americans’ voting rights.
Colom will therefore represent a different era of the Democratic Party. He will also become Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction, following Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce.
Colom’s platform and campaign efforts worked
Colom hit the campaign trail hard and never let up after launching his Senate bid in September 2025. His campaign hinged on voter outreach, fundraising, and catchy advertising campaigns.
While Hyde-Smith had more money saved from previous elections, Colom kept pace on the fundraising front and was even out-raising her as 2025 turned to 2026.
Along the campaign trail, Colom touted a broad range of views, some considered left-leaning, others right-leaning, and others falling somewhere in the middle. For example, at the Neshoba County Fair, one of Mississippi’s largest political gatherings, he discussed everything from safeguarding Medicaid to protecting gun rights and addressing high costs.
“I’m running on commonsense Mississippi values,” Colom said. “As a prosecutor, I understand the importance of keeping our borders secure, and I won’t compromise that. As a father, I understand the importance of the Second Amendment and making sure that we can protect our families.
“But I also have commonsense things (I’m running on). I know that people are struggling out there. Costs are high, wages are stagnant, our healthcare and hospitals are at risk, and we need a senator who’s going to fight for the commonsense issues that are going to make Mississippi better.”
Colom took those views directly to the voters, too. He was the more accessible candidate in the race. Even when President Donald Trump came to Corinth to rally for Hyde-Smith, Colom walked the lines of Republican supporters and spoke with them about why they should consider voting for him.
He reached even more people through advertising campaigns that went viral, including the “Pick Another Protein” ad, which targeted rising grocery and beef prices while taking aim at past comments by Hyde-Smith. The ad reached such a wide audience that social media influencers have reported hearing it quoted in the subways of New York and on the streets of Paris, France.
Colom also received a late boost in advertising support from Senate Democrats, who contributed $1.2 million through their PAC to support his campaign in the weeks leading up to the election. But as Colom told MS Now earlier this week, he felt the national party had largely written off Mississippi and should view his campaign as an example of how Democrats can win in ruby-red states.
Colom’s campaign efforts were bolstered by what Mississippi House Minority Leader Robert Johnson described as a lack of campaigning from Hyde-Smith, saying it “took a perfect storm” for Colom to be elected.
“She kind of disappeared,” Johnson said. “I don’t think you can blame the leadership of the Republican Party (for Hyde-Smith’s loss). I was just shocked that Cindy Hyde-Smith kind of stepped back and took it for granted.”
Additionally, Colom managed to convince fatigued Democratic voters that the election mattered. He brought in national party power players such as former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Bill Clinton without abandoning the centrist views he touted along the campaign trail.
Hyde-Smith’s loss defies Mississippi’s political landscape
While other states saw a dramatic shift toward the Democratic Party during this year’s midterms, Mississippi stood out as all other incumbent Republicans on the ballot won their races by comfortable margins.
Mississippi voters easily returned Republican U.S. Reps. Trent Kelly, Michael Guest, and Mike Ezell to office. All three races were called within hours of the polls closing, with winning margins ranging between 15 and 25 percentage points.
According to Johnson, Hyde-Smith’s loss was not part of the national political shift, though he believes Colom’s victory could be a starting point if Mississippi eventually turns purple or even blue. More than anything, Johnson said, questions Hyde-Smith has consistently faced about her accessibility and effectiveness in Congress carried over to the ballot box.
“I’m being hyperbolic when I say this, but this is kind of cataclysmic (on the national level). Everything happening from governor in Texas to senator in Texas and damn near every statewide office in Georgia,” Johnson said.
“But here in Mississippi, I think that the Senate race is an indication of how people feel,” he continued. “I think the Senate race is one where people actually voted how they feel like they’re living, how they feel where the country is, and how they’re feeling in their pocketbooks.”
William Russell, a former Trump adviser, agreed that Hyde-Smith did not campaign as hard as she should have while warning the Mississippi Republican Party that if its candidates do not work harder on voter outreach and messaging, seats could flip blue during the 2027 statewide elections.
“This (Senate race) is a warning to the Mississippi GOP, and this is a warning sign to any Republican candidate who’s going to run next year that you better take this seriously,” Russell said. “This is not a walk in the park like it used to be. Mississippi apparently is not a reliably red state anymore. You’re going to be in for a fight, and the party needs to be behind that and ready to mobilize.”
Hyde-Smith won’t pursue legal action, sources say
Mississippi does not have a process for automatically triggering a recount or allowing a candidate to request one based solely on a narrow margin. However, a candidate could pursue legal action seeking a court-ordered review of the results.
Hyde-Smith was asked by a reporter Tuesday, while walking in the halls of the U.S. Capitol, whether she believed there was any possibility of fraud in the vote count.
“There’s always irregularities,” Hyde-Smith responded.
However, the same sources who confirmed Hyde-Smith had conceded the race told SuperTalk Mississippi News that her campaign did not plan to file a lawsuit.
In a video posted to social media Wednesday evening, Hyde-Smith reflected on her time in the Senate and acknowledged Colom’s victory, saying to Mississippians, “Serving you in the United States Senate has been one of the greatest honors of my life.”
“When I first took office, I made a promise to never forget where I came from or who I worked for, and I never have,” Hyde-Smith said. “Over the past week, our campaign has worked tirelessly to ensure every legally cast vote was counted and that the people of Mississippi received a fair and transparent election.
“While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi’s voters. I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”
