Mississippi Elects Scott Colom as State’s First Black U.S. Senator Since Reconstruction
JACKSON, Miss. (BAMM Network) — Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race, becoming the state’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction and delivering Democrats one of the most striking victories of the 2026 midterms.
The Associated Press called the race Wednesday after several days of counting absentee and provisional ballots. Updated county results pushed Colom’s lead to more than 4,600 votes out of roughly 962,000 counted, enough for AP to determine Hyde-Smith no longer had a path to victory.
Colom, 43, is a district attorney who built his campaign around economic concerns, government effectiveness and an appeal that reached beyond Mississippi’s traditional partisan lines. He repeatedly argued that voters deserved a senator more focused on their everyday concerns.
“They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they’re going through,” Colom said during the campaign’s closing stretch.
His victory represents a dramatic political shift in a state President Donald Trump carried by nearly 23 percentage points in 2024. Strong Black turnout, particularly in the Mississippi Delta, combined with Republican dissatisfaction and movement among some white voters helped Colom overcome a race that national Democrats initially viewed as a long shot.
Colom also drew attention for campaigning directly to voters outside the traditional Democratic base. When Trump traveled to Corinth for a late-October rally with Hyde-Smith, Colom walked the line of Trump supporters outside the event, introducing himself and discussing their concerns. His campaign criticized Trump administration policies including tariffs and the Iran war without broadly attacking Trump voters themselves.
The race also carried a personal political history. President Joe Biden nominated Colom for a federal judgeship in 2022, with support from prominent Mississippi Republicans, but Hyde-Smith blocked the nomination. Colom maintained during the campaign that his Senate bid was not about retaliation.
In the closing days, Colom tied his campaign to Mississippi’s civil rights history, filming an advertisement at the Jackson home of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers.
“He was killed for helping Mississippians vote,” Colom said in the ad. “On Tuesday, use your vote and honor everyone who died for that right.”
Colom’s election gives Mississippi its first Black senator since Blanche Bruce served during the Reconstruction era and makes him the first Democrat to win one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats in decades.
Colom said he hopes the significance of his victory extends beyond his own election.
“My job is to do well enough as the next United States senator that the next time some young Black boy or girl has the work ethic, the vision, and the values ... nobody says because of anything I’ve done that they shouldn’t get a chance,” he said.
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