Scott Colom, in an extremely close finish, edges out to win the Mississippi senate seat from republican opponent Cindy Hyde-Smith. This was hands down the most unexpected race in the 2026 midterm election. This is due to the race being in a state that has been in republicans’ hands for many years now. Polling for Mississippi was not done at all really because people just assumed the state would go to the republicans like it always does.
In the week following election day, groups of lawyers from both candidates came to Mississippi to closely examine each and every ballot to make sure the count stays accurate. The race was called by CNN with 98% of the total votes in. A big batch of outstanding ballot votes came in today, which were heavily in Colom’s favor. Those votes came from Hinds county, a very populated county in Mississippi that favors democrats. There were also other outstanding ballot votes that were due on November 10 that were counted. Colom was up by 3,041 votes when the decision was made to call this race by CNN.
Scott Colom earned his law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 2009. After that, he went on to achieve many firsts in the state. This includes being the first black city prosecutor in Columbus, Mississippi and the first black district attorney in a major white voting district in the state. Colom then announced his plan to run for senate in 2025.
All was seemingly going according to plan for his opponent in the race, Cindy Hyde-Smith. She barely appeared on the campaign trail, thinking her win was assured. The tide turned when Colom sparked a movement with his “pick another senator” campaign ad in the middle of October. The famous ad was born after comments from Hyde-Smith were made about the rising price of beef in the country, due to Trump’s current policies. In response to voter’s concerns amid the affordability crisis, she said voters had “so many proteins to choose from” and Colom ran with it. It has nearly 14 million views on X.
After this point, major endorsements and money started to be poured into Colom’s campaign. Endorsements from the likes of former President Obama, Former Vice President Harris, and former President Clinton arrived to spread the word about Scott Colom. Republicans had to step up their game in terms of support for Hyde-Smith. They do this by sending Trump to make an appearance in Mississippi as well, even though he showed up just days before the election.
It seems that a lot of Mississippi voters turned out for this election, especially in the special “affidavit” ballots in the state. After all is said and done, Mississippi will have its first black senator in over four decades. This win will add the to the democrat’s growing power in the senate. Stay tuned for more election coverage!
Amazing- Mississippi 🇺🇸💙