Scott Colom wins Mississippi U.S. Senate seat, first Democrat since 1982
Scott Colom has been declared the winner of the Mississippi U.S. Senate race, defeating incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and becoming the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi since 1982 and the first Black Mississippi senator since 1881.
Magnolia Tribune reported on Nov. 11, 2026, that after more than a week of tallying affidavit and absentee ballots Colom led Hyde-Smith by 4,585 votes, with totals showing Colom at 472,188 votes (49.2%) to Hyde-Smith’s 467,603 (48.7%). Independent Ty Pinkins had 20,162 votes (2.1%), the Tribune said.
The Tribune noted that Mississippi law requires only a plurality to win federal general elections, so there will be no runoff even though no candidate reached 50% plus one vote, the story said.
The Magnolia Tribune reported that Colom’s victory gives Democrats 55 seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate, with a possible additional pickup in Alaska; the Tribune cited reporting that Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Dan Sullivan by about 4,000 votes with 84% reporting. The Tribune also reported that Democrats have won 255 of 435 House seats, with 12 races still to be determined.
The Tribune described Colom as the Lowndes County district attorney with no prior legislative experience. The paper said Colom first won the 16th Circuit district attorney post in 2015 by ousting a nearly 30-year incumbent, ran unopposed in 2019 and won a third term in 2023.
According to the Tribune, Colom was nominated in 2023 by President Joe Biden for a federal judgeship but did not receive a “blue slip” from Senator Hyde-Smith, and Colom told the Tribune in July he would seek seats on the Senate Appropriations and Agriculture committees if elected. “Those would be the two I would say first. You know, our senior Senator is on Armed Services so he’s got a big voice there, so I would try to get on those two, those would be the first two,” Colom told the Tribune in July, the story said.
The Tribune recounted campaign controversies, saying Colom made a fake phone call early in the campaign and used at least one AI-generated video that led the Mississippi Republican Party to ask the state attorney general to investigate. The paper reported Attorney General Lynn Fitch notified Colom that the video appeared to violate state law against using “deepfakes” to influence elections.
The Tribune listed national Democrats who campaigned in Mississippi for Colom, including former President Bill Clinton, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, Senators Lisa Blunt Rochester, Angela Alsobrooks and Cory Booker, Rep. Jim Clyburn and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and said former President Barack Obama appeared in a campaign ad supporting Colom.
On fundraising and outside spending, the Tribune cited VoteLog data showing Hyde-Smith raised more than $6 million to Colom’s roughly $4 million in the cycle, while outside PAC spending in support of Colom totaled nearly $16 million versus about $2.4 million for Hyde-Smith, the Tribune reported. The paper also said Republican turnout in Mississippi was down nearly 280,000 votes from 2024 while Democratic votes increased by about 5,000.
The Tribune added that Colom’s first high-profile decision in the new Senate will be whom to back for Senate Majority Leader on Dec. 1; the paper wrote that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is expected to be the choice of many Democrats and that Colom has said Schumer’s and incoming House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries’ shared New York borough gives him pause, according to the Tribune.
Source: Magnolia Tribune
