Democrat Scott Colom wins Mississippi Senate seat, making history as first Black senator since Reconstruction
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Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, flipping a Mississippi Senate seat and giving Democrats 55 seats in the 100-member Senate.
Democrat Scott Colom was declared the winner of the Mississippi U.S. Senate race after a count that dragged on for more than a week, according to the Associated Press. Colom defeated incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, expanding the Democratic caucus to 55 seats in the Senate and underscoring voters’ growing frustration with the GOP status quo.
Colom, who was once seen as a long shot, built momentum during the campaign, helped by advertisements that drew attention to rising beef prices, a kitchen-table issue for many Mississippi voters. In a February interview, Hyde-Smith said, "You know, you have so many proteins to choose from." The campaign’s ad featured a Southern-accented narrator asking, "Pick another protein?" and then arguing for a change in representation.
The victory marks the first time a Black man has held the Mississippi Senate seat since the Reconstruction era, when two Black Republicans were elected by the state legislature. The last Democrat to represent Mississippi in the Senate was John Stennis, who served from 1947 to 1989.
Civil-rights activist Flonzie Brown Wright told the Financial Times, "It just feels like our time has come." Colom’s win adds to a series of Democratic advances in other Deep South states, including Senate victories in South Carolina and close races in Louisiana, Texas, Kansas and Iowa.
Hyde-Smith, who originally entered the Mississippi state Senate as a conservative Democrat before switching parties, had previously served in the U.S. Senate after a 2018 appointment and a 2020 election. After the final result, she issued a video statement saying she respected Mississippi voters’ decision and congratulated Colom.