JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi News Group is projecting Democratic challenger Scott Colom to win the U.S. Senate race in Mississippi, defeating Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
With 99% of the vote counted, Colom leads Hyde-Smith by 4,645 votes, according to the Associated Press — 472,273 votes (49.2%) to 467,628 (48.7%). Decision Desk HQ’s tally is nearly identical, with Colom ahead by 4,499 votes. Independent Ty Pinkins finished a distant third with about 2.1% of the vote.
Colom’s lead has grown with each new batch of affidavit ballots counted. In Hinds County, where election officials verified provisional and mail-in absentee ballots on Wednesday, 703 of the 817 accepted affidavit ballots went to Colom. With the remaining uncounted ballots too few to erase the gap, Mississippi News Group sees no viable path for Hyde-Smith to close it.
In Alcorn County, Hyde-Smith won the county by a wide margin, taking 8,431 votes (75.5%) to Colom’s 2,538 (22.7%), with Pinkins at 195 votes (1.7%) out of 11,164 ballots cast. But Alcorn County’s margin was not enough to offset Colom’s advantage in Hinds County, where he leads by more than 48,000 votes, and other Democratic strongholds across the state.
If the result holds, Colom will become the first African American to represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate since Reconstruction. Hiram Revels served in 1870-71 and Blanche K. Bruce in 1875-81; no Black Mississippian has held one of the state’s Senate seats since.
Colom’s victory would also mark the first time a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Mississippi since 1982.
The Associated Press has not called the race, and results remain unofficial until counties certify them. Counties must submit certified results to the Secretary of State by Friday, Nov. 13. The Hyde-Smith campaign had asked all 82 counties to keep affidavit ballots separate and preserve them, a demand detailed in a letter from the campaign’s attorneys last week.
Jon R Myers is the executive editor of Alcorn County News and the founder of the Mississippi News Group, which he started in 2013 to cover communities across North Mississippi. He also founded the Mississippi Sports Group in 2006, which grew from a single community publication into a statewide network covering high school and college athletics. He reports on local government, public safety, schools and community life in Corinth and Alcorn County, working from public meetings, agency records and interviews with the people involved. Contact him at editor@alcornnewsms.com with news tips or corrections. For a correction, include the article link and supporting source material.
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