Mississippi Senate results: Scott Colom narrowly defeats Cindy Hyde-Smith, flipping another seat for Democrats in midterm elections

Mississippi Democrat Scott Colom narrowly defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday to flip another Senate seat for Democrats and become the first Black candidate elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi in more than 140 years.

According to figures from the Associated Press, Colom — who will also be Mississippi's first Black senator since 1989 — won 49.2% of the vote. Hyde-Smith finished with 48.7%.

"There were times that I couldn't get donors to answer the phone," Colom told supporters as they celebrated his historic upset late Wednesday night. "They did not believe a moment like this was possible, but I kept the faith."

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Mississippi — one of the reddest states in the country — wasn't really on the national radar prior to Nov. 3. President Trump won the state by 23 percentage points in 2024 — his third straight win there. Looking ahead to the 2026 Senate race, analysts said it was a "likely Republican" hold. Barely anyone bothered to poll it.

But by the end of Election Night, Colom and Hyde-Smith were separated by just 65 votes, shocking the nation.

Colom's win expands Democrats' total number of Senate seats to 55 and cements the party's best overall midterm performance since 1974 — a rout that has seen the GOP lose control of the Senate, the House and statehouses across the country.

As lawyers, operatives and legal observers descended on Mississippi to watch officials count every last ballot, Colom repeatedly expressed confidence that his campaign would prevail, flooding the airwaves and attending at least eight post-election events. "It's very clear the direction of this," he told reporters on Friday.

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Colom picked up that thread in Wednesday's victory speech. "I've been telling everybody that we're going to win this election," he said. "I was saying it 8 or 9 months ago. But every time I said it, I pointed out that people were going to give me too much credit for it because it's not something that I did. It's something that we did. All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this. I had the courage to believe in Mississippi."

Hyde-Smith conceded to Colom in a video posted on X Wednesday evening: "While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," she said. "I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state."

Alaska is now the only undecided Senate race. Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan 48.9% to 47.3% with 84% of the vote counted, according to the latest AP figures.

Who is Scott Colom?

Colom, 43, was born in Columbus, Miss., to two lawyers who also participated in politics. In 1987, his father, Wilbur, ran for state treasurer as a Republican; his mother, Dorothy, served as the first Black Chancery Court judge in their home district. Colom earned his JD from the University of Wisconsin in 2009 and went on to serve as the first Black justice court judge in Lowndes County, Miss., before becoming the first Black city prosecutor in Columbus. 

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In 2015, Colom defeated a nearly 30-year incumbent to become the first Black district attorney elected in a majority-white voting district in Mississippi history. He has since prosecuted a number of high-profile murder and sexual assault cases.

In 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Colom to serve as federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi. Leading Magnolia State Republicans — including Sen. Roger Wicker and former Govs. Phil Bryant and Haley Barbour — backed Colom's nomination. 

"I have known two generations of the Colom family for over 20 years and believe Scott Colom possesses the discernment to be a fair and exemplary judge," Bryant told the New York Times.

But Hyde-Smith blocked Colom's nomination in the Senate, citing support his 2015 campaign received from a political action committee funded by George Soros and claiming that he favored allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls' and women's sports. The White House characterized Hyde-Smith's concerns as "spurious."

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In a letter to Hyde-Smith urging her to reconsider, Colom confirmed that he had signed a letter with other prosecutors condemning efforts to criminalize gender-affirming care for transgender people, but insisted that their joint statement "did not comment on legislation specifically related to participation in athletics." Colom also said he had not known about Soros's contributions to the Mississippi Safety and Justice PAC "until I read about them in my hometown paper."

Colom's unsuccessful nomination was returned to Biden on Jan. 3, 2024. In September 2025, Colom announced his U.S. Senate candidacy.

How Colom won

Hyde-Smith, 67, is a former lobbyist and state legislator who was serving as Mississippi's agriculture and commerce commissioner when she was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 2018 following the resignation of Republican Sen. Thad Cochran. She won a 2018 special election and a 2020 full-term election, and she has served in the Senate ever since. 

There were signs before Election Day that Hyde-Smith might be vulnerable to "voter apathy," as one Mississippi State University political science professor recently put it. Sen. Wicker won reelection in 2024 by 25 points; Hyde-Smith's margin of victory in 2020 was less than half that. And while the only polls made public this cycle showed Hyde-Smith ahead, her leads were stuck in the single digits — no survey put her support above 50%. One April Democratic poll showed Hyde-Smith trailing a hypothetical "someone else" 33% to 53%.

Regardless, Hyde-Smith seemed content to coast to reelection, barely bothering to appear on the campaign trail. But Colom didn't have that luxury — and when he cut a viral campaign ad about beef prices in mid-October, the tide started to turn. 

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Asked earlier this year about soaring costs, including the price of beef, Hyde-Smith told local TV station WLOX that "all commodities go through peaks and valleys," but "you have so many proteins to choose from."

In the final weeks of the campaign, Colom seized on Hyde-Smith's remark about "proteins" to mock her with a spot featuring incredulous Mississippians grilling burgers, dining out and shopping for groceries — and saying they'd rather "pick another senator instead" (along with other, more colorful language). The video has since racked up nearly 19 million views on Colom's X account.

When the ad took off, national Democrats sprang into action. The Senate Majority PAC poured $2.2 million into the race; Senate Democrats' campaign arm contributed another $500,000. Former President Barack Obama filmed an endorsement ad. Former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Raphael Warnock of Georgia rushed to Mississippi to rally with Colom. 

In response, Republicans were forced to play defense, sending Trump to Mississippi in the final days of the campaign (along with cash infusions of their own).

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In the end, it wasn't enough to get Hyde-Smith over the line. When Trump came to Mississippi, Colom attended his event to talk to rally-goers about health care, grocery bills and gas prices. 

"I got the best message ever for Republican voters in Mississippi," he told CNN afterward. "I'm going to get you what you were promised in 2024. You were promised lower grocery prices on Day One. That's what I will fight for. You were promised no more endless wars. That's what I will fight for. You were promised the full and transparent release of the Epstein files. That's what I will fight for."

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