Democrat Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Seat, First Black Senator Since Reconstruction
Scott Colom defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in a close race, becoming Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since the Reconstruction era and giving Democrats an unexpected boost in the Senate.
Democrat Scott Colom has won Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, defeating incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith after a several-day count of absentee and provisional ballots. The Associated Press called the race in Colom's favor on Wednesday.
At 43, the former district attorney said the victory reflects the state's large Black electorate and broader economic concerns. "They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they're going through," Colom said in the campaign's final weeks.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer praised the result on social media, noting that Colom's campaign "re-imagined what's possible for Democrats in the South." The campaign received financial support from figures including Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, former President Bill Clinton and former Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Colom's strategy emphasized criticism of incumbent Hyde-Smith's record and national Republican policies, such as tariffs and foreign-policy decisions, while avoiding personal attacks on President Donald Trump or his supporters. He highlighted his own outreach to Trump supporters at a rally in Corinth, Mississippi, and framed the contest as a choice between policy differences rather than partisan animosity.
The win marks the first time Mississippi has elected a Black senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era; the last Democratic senator from the state was elected in 1947. Voter turnout was strong in the Delta region and other majority-Black counties, and the state shifted leftward compared with the 2024 presidential election, when President Trump carried Mississippi by a wide margin.
Colom concluded his campaign with an advertisement at the home of civil-rights activist Medgar Evers, invoking the legacy of voting-rights struggles. He said, "In Mississippi, no one is above the law, and no one should be outside its protection," urging voters to honor those who fought for suffrage.