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US midterm elections 2026 live: Democrats eye historic upset in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Yerushalmy, J. (2026, November 5). US midterm elections 2026 live: Democrats eye historic upset in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/nov/05/midterm-elections-live-latest-updates-mississippi-senate-race

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-11-05 · by Jonathan Yerushalmy

Quick Summary

The article reports on the ongoing 2026 US midterm election, focusing particularly on the tight Senate race in Mississippi. Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 1,138 votes with almost all ballots counted, which would make it the first time a Democrat has won a Senate seat in Mississippi since 1982 and only the second Black senator from the state since Reconstruction. The article also highlights internal Republican disagreements over why their party underperformed, attributing blame to factors like Trump’s influence and mismanagement of issues important to voters.
Written by AI on 2026-11-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of November 5, 2026, votes are still being counted in the tight Mississippi Senate race between Democrat Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, with only 95% of ballots tallied. Colom leads by a narrow margin of just 1,138 votes, making it possible that remaining mail or provisional ballots could alter the outcome significantly. Democratic figures like Gavin Newsom and Marc Elias are actively supporting Colom, preparing for potential legal challenges if necessary. The race remains too close to call due to outstanding ballots, potentially extending the vote count and leading to a protracted ballot battle over the final results.

Written for “Mississippi Senate Race Unresolved” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Centre (beta estimate) Confidence medium
Leaning: centre for article 130839 (medium confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-11-05

Story

📰 Mississippi Senate Race Unresolved
Politics · 12 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads centre and hedges 16% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Hedges 0 of 1 claims Outlet record 65/100
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⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 1 of 14 claims Outlet record 65/100
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⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 5 of 20 claims Outlet record 69/100
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Mother Jones
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 4 of 11 claims Outlet record 60/100
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NBC News
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 9 of 33 claims Outlet record 78/100
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TIME
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 5 of 53 claims Outlet record 59/100
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Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 65/100
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Hedges 3 of 29 claims Outlet record 61/100
“Article A covers multiple key midterm races and Senate races in general, while Article B focuses on a specific live update for the Mississippi Senate race.”
US midterm elections 2026 live updates: Democrats take control of Congress in major setback for Trump Different event
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left further left than this Hedges 6 of 39 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A covers the overall outcome and major shifts in Senate control during the US midterm elections 2026, while Article B focuses on an ongoing race in Mississippi that remains unresolved as of its posting time.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
16%
3 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Centre
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
12
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Jonathan Yerushalmy
8 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Counting in Alaska is expected to continue into Thursday, while in deep red Mississippi, Democrats could be close to pulling off another almighty upset.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · US midterm elections 2026 live: Democrats eye historic upset in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins
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2026-10-29 · mixed framing · Israel election results live: count of absentee ballots under way as coalition talks among Eisenkot bloc set to begin
🔮 - Israeli media report that Netanyahu’s bloc is ahead, with projections he could take 53 seats under the current vote share, but this could change further.
2026-10-28 · assertive framing · Israel election: what we know so far
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2026-10-28 · mixed framing · Israel election results live: exit polls point to tie between Netanyahu and Eisenkot blocs
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2026-09-15 · assertive framing · Houthis seize strategic Red Sea islands as analysts warn of impending oil crunch
Also by Jonathan Yerushalmy
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2026-10-28 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 8 articles by Jonathan Yerushalmy →

Topics

Black Democrats Mississippi Republican Republicans

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 5× Democrats NORP · 4× Republicans NORP · 4× Mississippi GPE · 3× Republican NORP · 3× Black PERSON · 2× Colom PERSON · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 2× Senate ORG · 1× the US Congress ORG · 1×

Narrative

- Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, said the “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans” was caused in part by his party failing to target their ad spending on issues that would motivate voters.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-05
🔮 Counting in Alaska is expected to continue into Thursday, while in deep red Mississippi, Democrats could be close to pulling off another almighty upset.
2026-11-05 · The Guardian
US midterm elections 2026 live: Democrats eye historic upset in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins · assertive framing

Claims (19 extracted, 3 hedged)

Welcome to our continuing coverage of the 2026 midterms where almost 24 hours after Democrats secured their historic sweep of the US Congress, two Senate seats remain in play. asserted
seats → welcome → play
Counting in Alaska is expected to continue into Thursday, while in deep red Mississippi, Democrats could be close to pulling off another almighty upset. uncertain
Democrats → expect → upset
Currently, Democrat Scott Colom is leading his Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 1,138 votes with almost 96% of the vote counted. asserted
% → lead → vote
In the last few hours, votes for Colom have been outpacing those for his Republican opponent, although new batches of votes have not been reported for several hours now. asserted
batches → outpace → hours
Although a race this close would automatically trigger a recount in some states, Mississippi has no law on the books for initiating a recount. asserted
Mississippi → trigger → recount
Democrats haven’t won a US Senate seat in Mississippi since 1982, and Donald Trump carried the state by 22 points in 2024. asserted
Trump → win → 2024
It’s been much longer – not since 1875 – that the state elected a Black person to that office. asserted
state → elect → office
Colom is a seventh-generation Mississippian, whose father was a Republican who campaigned for Ronald Reagan and was friends with Thad Cochran, a longtime state politician. asserted
who → campaign → Cochran
In 2015, he unseated a nearly 30-year incumbent when he was elected the first Black district attorney for the 16th circuit. asserted
he → unseat → circuit
As district attorney, he had a 94% success rate for convictions. asserted
he → have → convictions
Meanwhile, after Democrats secured their historic wins in last night’s midterm elections, Republicans are beginning the blame game: asserted
Republicans → secure → game
- Donald Trump claimed Republicans fared poorly because he was not on the ballot – after repeatedly urging voters to pretend he was on the ballot. asserted
he → claim → ballot
- JD Vance pointed to Trump’s ongoing war in Iran as the “obvious” culprit for the loss. asserted
Vance → point → loss
Pete Hegseth’s role leading the unpopular war could lead to him taking the fall – despite Trump publicly backing him. uncertain
Trump → lead → him
Republicans including Trump foe Thomas Massie have criticized the defense secretary. asserted
Republicans → include → secretary
- Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, said the “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans” was caused in part by his party failing to target their ad spending on issues that would motivate voters. asserted
that → say → voters
According to exit polls from the Associated Press, voters said the cost of living and government corruption were their two top issues. uncertain
cost → accord → living
But how will Trump cope with this new political reality? asserted
Trump → cope → reality
The Guardian’s David Smith explores that – and whether these elections mark the beginning of the end for Trump – this analysis piece here: asserted
elections → explore → piece
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