Mississippi's U.S. Senate race was too close to call on Wednesday morning, with Democrat Scott Colom holding a 28-vote lead over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith out of nearly 1 million ballots cast. With about 97% of the expected vote counted, unofficial returns showed Colom with 462,779 votes and Hyde-Smith with 462,751, each at 48.9%. Independent Ty Pinkins had 19,934 votes, or 2.1%. The Associated Press had not called the race.
Hyde-Smith led for most of the night before late returns from Hinds County, home to the capital, Jackson, swung the race. Hinds gave Colom 61,793 votes to Hyde-Smith's 14,702, and Holmes County was the last county to report before Colom pulled ahead, according to Mississippi Today. The New York Times moved its rating of the race to a toss-up as the gap closed.
"Mississippi matters"
Neither candidate claimed victory. "I'm telling you, deep down in my soul, I believe we're about to show the country Mississippi matters," Colom told supporters at a watch party at the Ice House in Jackson, adding: "We're gonna win." Hyde-Smith said not all votes were in and that the race would not be called that night, but told her supporters: "I assure you I will continue to be your U.S. Senator."
Hinds County officials paused their count overnight, and thousands of affidavit ballots remained to be counted statewide, the Mississippi Free Press reported. Because this is a regular general election, there will be no runoff: whoever finishes with the most votes takes the seat.
A historic seat
A Colom victory would make him Mississippi's first Democratic senator since John C. Stennis won his final term in 1982, and the state's first Black senator since Blanche K. Bruce, who served from 1875 to 1881. Colom, a district attorney, was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2023 for a federal judgeship in northern Mississippi, but Hyde-Smith blocked the nomination, which left him free to run against her. President Donald Trump rallied for Hyde-Smith in Corinth on Oct. 26, while former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned in person for Colom.
The outcome will not decide control of the chamber, which Democrats have already secured, but a Colom win would widen their new Senate majority and deliver one of the most improbable flips of the night in a state Trump carried easily in 2024.
Images: The New York Times, Wikimedia Commons (file)
