Mississippi Senate race still too close to call as Democrat Scott Colom closes in on incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith
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With 96% of precincts reporting, Democrat Scott Colom has driven the margin down to only a few dozen votes against Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in a race that underscores how hard it remains to break through Mississippi’s entrenched conservative politics.
The Mississippi Senate contest remains unresolved after 96% of the vote has been counted, with Democrat Scott Colom narrowing the gap to just a few dozen votes against incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. Hyde-Smith, 67, has served in the Senate since 2018 and is seeking a second term, while Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney and seventh-generation Mississippian, has centered his campaign on the cost-of-living squeeze and the strain of health-care access.
Democrats have poured resources into the race in recent weeks, hoping to pry open a seat that has been in Republican hands since 1982. The state voted for President Trump by a 20-point margin in the 2024 election, highlighting just how steep the climb is for Democrats in a system still tilted heavily toward the GOP.
"The results are all trending in our direction," Colom told supporters early Wednesday. "We are trending in counties that people thought we had no chance to compete in, and we're winning them."
The outcome of the Mississippi race, along with an unresolved Senate contest in Alaska, will determine the final size of the Democratic majority in the chamber, which secured control after flipping several GOP-held seats in recent elections.