Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s US Senate contest on Wednesday, becoming the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction. The Associated Press declared Colom the winner after local election officials spent several days counting absentee and provisional ballots, known in Mississippi as affidavit ballots.
The narrow result broke with generations of political dominance by white conservatives in the state with the country’s largest proportion of Black residents. Mississippi last elected a new Democratic senator in 1947, when the successful candidate was a staunch segregationist. Colom’s win also added to Republican losses in several states the party controlled, delivering another midterm setback to President Donald Trump.
Colom, a 43-year-old local prosecutor, celebrated with hundreds of supporters at Tougaloo College. He credited his willingness to believe Mississippi could change and renewed his campaign promise to represent residents across its longstanding racial divisions. Hyde-Smith, 67, conceded in a telephone call late Wednesday afternoon and subsequently released a speech online accepting the voters’ decision and wishing Colom well.
Economic dissatisfaction and Hyde-Smith’s campaign missteps helped Colom as she pursued a second full term. After she suggested shoppers facing expensive beef could buy other proteins, his campaign released a widely circulated advertisement featuring voters proposing that they choose another senator. He also portrayed her as having little influence in Washington, a criticism aimed at voters accustomed to powerful, long-serving senators.
Colom criticized Trump’s policies, particularly the Iran war’s effect on gasoline prices and the difficulties tariffs created for Mississippi farmers, while avoiding personal attacks on the president or his supporters. When Trump visited Corinth in late October for a rally with Hyde-Smith, Colom spoke with people waiting outside, introducing himself and asking about their concerns.
The race attracted national attention and funding relatively late, despite earlier appeals from Black senators including Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland. After the victory, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer praised Colom’s campaign as expanding the party’s possibilities in the South. Former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned alongside him shortly before the election, also celebrated the result.
Colom’s strategy depended on strong Black turnout, dissatisfaction among Republicans and increased support from white voters. Results showed substantial turnout in the Mississippi Delta’s concentration of majority-Black counties, while almost the entire state shifted toward Democrats compared with 2024, when Trump won Mississippi by nearly 23 percentage points. NAACP President Derrick Johnson credited voters, particularly Black voters, with overcoming discouragement and intimidation.
The opponents also shared a history involving Colom’s judicial nomination. President Joe Biden nominated him to a federal district court in 2022, with support from Republican Senator Roger Wicker and former Governor Haley Barbour. Hyde-Smith blocked his confirmation, although Colom said his Senate campaign was never an effort to settle that dispute.
Colom closed his campaign with an advertisement filmed at civil rights leader Medgar Evers’ Jackson home, recalling his military service, voting rights work and assassination. Speaking on Wednesday, Veterans Day, Colom again honored Evers and his belief in Mississippi’s progress. He said he hoped his own service would help ensure future young Black candidates received an opportunity to pursue a Senate seat.
