WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — Democrat Scott Colom has won the US Senate race in Mississippi, unseating Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in one of the biggest upsets of the midterm elections, more than a week after polling day.
Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, will be the first Black person to represent Mississippi in the Senate since the Reconstruction era, and the first Democrat the state has sent to the Senate since 1982.
Only a few thousand votes separated the two candidates. The race stayed too close to call for days as officials counted affidavit and absentee ballots, which broke in Colom’s favour.
An eighth flipped seat
The result gives Democrats their eighth Senate gain of the elections, after wins in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, and Maine. They will hold at least 55 of the 100 seats from January, with the Alaska race still undecided.
President Donald Trump won Mississippi by about 20 points in 2024. Hyde-Smith, 67, has served in the Senate since 2018 and was the first woman elected to represent the state in Congress.
Colom campaigned on the cost of living and healthcare, and was backed on the trail by former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Polls suggested that frustration with the economy and the war with Iran weighed heavily on Republicans across the map.
Senate Republicans re-elected John Thune as their leader on Tuesday despite the losses.
