Democrat Scott Colom appeared poised to unseat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi on Wednesday, though the race had not yet been called. Colom, a district attorney, led by roughly 2,000 votes as officials continued counting ballots in several counties, including Hinds County, where he was ahead by about 60 percentage points.
“I think that anybody who can look at the math should be able to know where this is going,” Colom told reporters Wednesday morning, adding that he was confident he would be the state’s next senator.
The contest would be a striking upset in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator since John C. Stennis retired in the 1980s. Colom’s path was complicated by the decision of Ty Pinkins, the Democratic Senate candidate in 2024, to run as an independent this year; Pinkins received nearly 20,000 votes. The Republican Senate Leadership Fund also provided more than $1 million in emergency funding to support Hyde-Smith.
Colom’s campaign highlighted Hyde-Smith’s comments on the cost of living, including her response to a question about beef prices: “You have so many proteins to choose from.” A campaign ad turned the remark into an appeal to voters to choose a different senator.
The race drew national attention late in the campaign. President Donald Trump visited Mississippi in late October to campaign for Hyde-Smith, while former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris later traveled to the state to support Colom. Few observers had expected a close contest, and the race had been surveyed far less frequently than high-profile Senate contests in Michigan and Texas.
The campaign also carried a personal history between the candidates. In 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Colom, then a state prosecutor, to a lifetime federal judgeship. Hyde-Smith opposed the nomination, which was blocked. Colom later said that had his nomination not been stopped, he would not have left the federal bench to run for Senate.
Hyde-Smith had declared victory at her election-night party, saying she had blocked Colom from becoming a federal judge and that voters had blocked him from becoming a senator. Asked about her remarks Wednesday, Colom replied, “Bless her heart.”
Sources: Rolling Stone.