Scott Colom Wins Mississippi's Senate Seat as Hyde-Smith Concedes and Democrats Reach 55 Seats
After more than a week of counting, the Associated Press projected the Democrat the winner by roughly 4,600 votes, making him the state's first Black senator since 1874 and leaving only Alaska undecided.
Thursday, November 12, 2026/2 min read
Mississippi finally has a Senate winner, and it is the Democrat. After a count that stayed too close to call for more than a week following the 3 November midterms, Scott Colom was projected to have defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday, CBS News reported. Hyde-Smith conceded in a video message that evening.
We last followed the race on Sunday, when Colom led by about 2,500 votes and the state was waiting on affidavit ballots. The lead has since roughly doubled.
How close was the Mississippi Senate race in the end?
Close enough that it was decided by a few thousand ballots. The AP had Colom ahead by 4,404 votes at 2:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, up from 2,990 at the start of the day, with about 99 percent counted and fewer than 15,000 ballots outstanding, CNBC reported. Colom stood at 49.18 percent, Hyde-Smith at 48.72 percent and independent Ty Pinkins at 2.1 percent. Later tallies cited by Reuters put the lead at about 4,600 votes, or half a percentage point. CNBC added that Colom was taking about 80 percent of the vote in Hinds County, where the late ballots came in.
Hyde-Smith, 67, said in her video that the result was not the outcome she had hoped for but that she respected the decision of Mississippi voters.
Why does Colom's win matter?
It is a double first, in a state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate in more than four decades. Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, becomes the state's first Black senator since Blanche Bruce was elected in 1874, and the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982, per Reuters. Donald Trump carried the state by nearly 23 points in 2024. Colom, who will be sworn in in January, had also taunted his opponent during the count by asking where she was, according to Al Jazeera, after her campaign stayed silent for days.
What does it do to the Senate balance?
Democrats flipped at least eight Republican-held seats on 3 November, by Al Jazeera's count, which is why Colom's result mattered beyond Mississippi: it settled how large the majority will be when the new Senate convenes.
Democrats will hold at least 55 seats against 44 Republican seats when the new Congress convenes, according to CBS and Reuters. The single seat left undecided is Alaska, where CNBC had Democrat Mary Peltola ahead of Republican Dan Sullivan by 4,250 votes with 84 percent counted, a race that could still turn on ranked-choice tabulation.
In the House, Reuters said Democrats lead 254 to 168 with 13 races uncalled, meaning Republicans lose control of both chambers. The next questions are how fast Alaska is resolved, and how the new majorities use committee gavels after the lame-duck session, when a December funding deadline is already waiting.
Published in The Outspoken Digest
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