Mississippi Senate Race Called: Scott Colom Defeats Hyde-Smith to Become the State's First Black Senator Since Reconstruction

JACKSON, Miss. — The last long count of the 2026 midterms broke on Wednesday afternoon. The Associated Press called Mississippi's U.S. Senate race for Democrat Scott Colom, who narrowly defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith after more than a week of counting outstanding absentee ballots and affidavit — or provisional — ballots. Colom won the closest Senate race in the country by just a few thousand votes, in a state President Donald Trump carried by 23 points in 2024 and that the Cook Political Report had rated Likely Republican.

The numbers underneath the call stayed tight to the end. USA TODAY and Clarion Ledger totals had Colom holding about a 0.5% lead on Wednesday evening, and Mississippi offers no late escape hatch: a 50%-plus-one majority is not needed in a federal race there, and the state has no recount process. Hyde-Smith conceded in a video posted to social media shortly after the AP call — officials said she also called Colom directly, and released the video just before 5:30 p.m. "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." Her video hinted at no legal challenge to come. Colom was scheduled to declare victory at 8 p.m. Wednesday; Secretary of State officials do not expect final certified totals until Friday at 5 p.m.

The history is the headline. Colom, 43, a seventh-generation Mississippian and the district attorney for Mississippi's 16th judicial district, will become the state's first Black U.S. senator elected since the Reconstruction era — the first since Blanche K. Bruce, who was born into slavery and served until 1881 — and the first Democrat Mississippi has elected to the U.S. Senate since 1982. Mississippi has the highest share of Black voters in the country, at close to 40%, and Colom flipped at least 18 counties that voted for Trump in 2024, according to the USA TODAY Network, including some that have not elected a Democratic senator since the 1980s. His was the eighth Senate seat Democrats flipped from Republicans in this year's midterms.

The race was also a rematch of a Washington fight. In 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Colom to serve as a U.S. District Court judge; Hyde-Smith blocked the nomination by withholding her blue slip to the Senate Judiciary Committee — fellow Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker returned his — and Colom ultimately ran against the senator who stopped him. On the trail he campaigned on a single repeated slogan — "lower costs, higher wages, save our health care, save our hospitals" — dubbed his opponent "Cindy High-Prices," and turned her televised answer on soaring beef prices ("you have so many proteins to choose from") into a viral ad, "Pick another protein," that drew 2.8 million views in its first 36 hours. "The reality is, Mississippi has never been a lost cause, we've been a betrayed cause," Colom told NPR earlier this month. "The Democratic Party has not been trying to win Mississippi."

For Texas, the call settles the chamber its delegation will sit in. Colom's victory expands the majority Democrats will hold in the new Congress to 55 seats — and one seat is still out. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by 4,250 votes on the Division of Elections' latest count — 48.63% to 46.90% in Decision Desk HQ's Wednesday snapshot, with 80% of the expected vote reported and the race uncalled. Alaska accepts overseas ballots through November 18, will run a ranked-choice tabulation that day if no candidate passes 50% of first-choice votes, and targets November 25 for certification. Mississippi was the harder flip on paper; Alaska is now simply the last one counting.