Scott Colom flips Mississippi Senate seat after days of counting
Why it matters: The win gives Democrats 55 Senate seats and makes Colom Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.
Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race after more than a week of counting absentee and affidavit ballots, according to an Associated Press race call. The narrow upset flips a seat in a state Donald Trump carried by 23 points in 2024 and marks Mississippi’s first Democratic Senate win in decades. Colom, a district attorney, centered his campaign on cost-of-living pressures and drew strong support from Black voters in a state where they make up close to 40% of the electorate. Hyde-Smith later conceded. The result expands Democrats’ majority in the next Congress to 55 seats, with Alaska’s Senate race still undecided.