Republicans suffered another Senate defeat in Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom unseated incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith after more than a week of ballot counting. The November 11th result gave Democrats their 55th seat in the incoming Senate, with Alaska still undecided. The loss came in a state President Donald Trump carried by nearly 23 percentage points just two years earlier.
The contest pitted a local district attorney against a Republican who had served in the Senate since 2018. Hyde-Smith initially entered the chamber through an appointment and won a special election later that year. Colom, 43, became the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate election since John Stennis in 1982 and will become the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.
The candidates had previously clashed over Colom’s nomination for a federal judgeship during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Hyde-Smith blocked that nomination, citing concerns about financial support for his local campaigns from organizations connected to George Soros. Colom subsequently challenged her for the Senate seat while continuing a political career that included more than a decade as a district attorney.
As Breitbart reported, Colom brought prominent Democrats onto the campaign trail, including former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. He also approached voters outside Trump’s late-October Mississippi rally. Absentee and provisional ballot updates expanded his advantage during the week after Election Day. By Wednesday evening, the reported shares stood at 49.2% for Colom and 48.7% for Hyde-Smith.
The Associated Press explained that it called the race shortly before 6 p.m. Eastern after Jackson County added 2,173 votes to its count. That update left Colom ahead by 4,669 votes out of 962,237 counted statewide. Hyde-Smith needed favorable late returns from Republican-leaning counties to overtake him. Instead, Colom carried Jackson County’s additional batch by slightly more than one percentage point and won all 12 county updates released that Wednesday.
Cost-of-living complaints featured prominently in Colom’s campaign, Reuters reported. One advertisement targeted Hyde-Smith’s suggestion that shoppers facing expensive beef could choose other proteins. The campaign also received support from Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock and Cory Booker at October rallies. After the result, Hyde-Smith released a concession video congratulating Colom and wishing him well as he prepared to represent Mississippi in Washington.
Watch Hyde-Smith concede the Mississippi Senate race here:
"*" indicates required fields
Colom’s supporters gathered at Tougaloo College for his victory celebration, Mississippi Today reported. He thanked Rep. Bennie Thompson and NAACP President Derrick Johnson, identifying both men as mentors. He also invoked civil rights figures Medgar Evers and Fannie Lou Hamer during his remarks. Colom promised to serve “the ones that voted for me, the ones that didn’t vote for me, the ones that didn’t vote.”
In her concession statement, published by WLBT, Hyde-Smith said her campaign had spent the week working to ensure legally cast ballots were counted. She thanked her family, staff, volunteers, donors and supporters, then pointed to her work supporting farmers, veterans, the military and opposition to abortion. She also cited investments secured for Mississippi communities. “While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.