Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's US Senate election, securing an unexpected victory in a deeply conservative state. The result ends a Republican winning streak stretching back to 1982 and makes Colom the first black person Mississippi has elected to the Senate in more than 140 years.
The contest remained unresolved for more than a week after election day, with only a few thousand votes dividing the candidates. Local officials continued counting all ballots received before the deadline before the outcome could be called. Figures from CBS put Colom at 49.2% of the vote, compared with 48.7% for Hyde-Smith. An independent candidate received the remaining 2.1%.
Hyde-Smith acknowledged the result in a video shared on X on Wednesday evening, congratulating Colom and wishing him well. She said she respected the choice made by Mississippi voters, although the outcome was not what she and her campaign had worked toward or hoped to achieve.
Colom's victory brings the Democratic Senate majority to 55 seats while an extremely close contest in Alaska remains undecided. Democrats have taken control of both the Senate and the House in the midterm elections, with Senate victories in Republican strongholds including Texas, South Carolina and Kansas.
Mississippi had not been expected to produce such a competitive race. President Donald Trump carried the state by more than 22 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election, providing a strongly Republican backdrop for Hyde-Smith's re-election campaign. Her defeat adds to Republican losses in traditionally conservative states during these midterms, including Texas, Kansas and Iowa.
Polling suggests frustration with the economy and the war with Iran under Trump played a substantial role in the Democratic gains. Exit polls indicated that economic concerns were a major factor in the backlash against Republicans, with voters blaming the administration's tariffs and the Iran war for their difficulties.
Colom, a local prosecutor, made use of that dissatisfaction during his campaign. He drew attention to Hyde-Smith's support for Trump's tariffs and dubbed her “Cindy High Prices”. He also pursued an extensive campaign across Mississippi, visiting each of the state's 82 counties.
Hyde-Smith's campaign sought to portray Colom as a puppet of billionaire liberal donor George Soros, whose family has contributed to the Democrat's political campaigns. The Republican incumbent, meanwhile, faced criticism over a shortage of public appearances as she sought another term.
