Democratic nominee Scott Colom has defeated Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot-counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
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Colom → defeat → Reconstruction
Mr. Colom's narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi, which has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations, and it yielded immediate echoes around the country.
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it → control → country
The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states, and it will bolster some Democrats' argument that their future runs through the American South.
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future → add → South
The Associated Press called the contest Wednesday (November 11, 2026) in Mr. Colom's favour after local election officials spent several days processing absentee and provisional ballots, called affidavit ballots in Mississippi.
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officials → call → Mississippi
“While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” Ms. Hyde-Smith said in a two-minute concession speech posted online.
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Smith → work → speech
“I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”
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he → want → state
A spokesman for the Senator said she called Mr. Colom to congratulate him and concede before the video was shared publicly.
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video → say → him
The last time Mississippi chose a new Democratic Senator was 1947, and the winner then was a staunch segregationist.
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winner → choose → Senator
Mr. Colom, a 43-year-old local prosecutor, capitalised on the state's large Black population, discontent with the economy and Ms. Hyde-Smith's missteps as she sought a second full term.
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she → capitalise → term
“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,” Mr. Colom said in the campaign's closing stretch.
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Colom → deserve → stretch
Mr. Colom said during the campaign that he could represent all of Mississippi, a state where racial divisions have long defined its politics and society.
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divisions → say → politics
“It's got to be about having a party that represents rural America again, suburban America, urban America — a party that makes sure we actually deliver for voters in ways that make their lives better,” he said.
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he → get → ways
National Democrats celebrate along with Colom
Party leaders hailed the senator-elect's triumph, with nods to the South's emerging battleground status after other upset victories from North Carolina to Texas.
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Democrats → celebrate → Texas
“Scott Colom is the only person who could've gotten this done,” Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York posted online.
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Schumer → get → York
“Along with his staff and volunteers, Scott ran the campaign of a lifetime and re-imagined what's possible for Democrats in the South.”
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what → run → South
Former President Bill Clinton, a native Arkansan who campaigned with Mr. Colom days before the election, addressed Mr. Colom on social media, saying he won “because you believe in the promise of your state's people.
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you → campaign → people
And they believed in you right back.
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they → believe → you
I'm honoured to have stood alongside you.”
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I → honour → you
A race Washington once viewed as a long shot
Despite Mr. Schumer's support, the contest was a latecomer to the national spotlight, drawing attention from Democrats who belatedly infused cash into Colom's candidacy well after Black senators, including Georgia's Raphael Warnock and Maryland's Angela Alsobrooks, urged donors and party leaders to see the contest as winnable.
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senators → view → contest
The son of a one-time Republican who worked for President Ronald Reagan, Mr. Colom garnered attention for his aggressive campaign as Democrats widened the Senate battleground map and Ms. Hyde-Smith's vulnerabilities crystallised.
Mr. Colom attracted particular notice for some of the year's most widely circulated ads.
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Colom → work → ads
After Ms. Hyde-Smith, 67, seemed to brush off high beef prices by saying consumers could choose other proteins, Mr. Colom cut a 30-second spot depicting incredulous voters saying they'd “pick another senator instead.”
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they → seem → senator
When Mr. Trump came to Corinth, Mississippi, in late October for a rally with Ms. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Colom walked the line of Mr. Trump supporters as they waited outside the gates.
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they → come → gates
He introduced himself, asked about their concerns and explained his priorities.
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He → introduce → priorities
Later that evening, when Mr. Trump called Ms. Hyde-Smith to the stage, she said nine words in six seconds: “Is this not the best President in our lifetime?”
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this → call → lifetime
Then she stepped away.
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she → step → ?
“I love that,” Mr. Trump replied when he continued his 80-plus minutes at the microphone.
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he → love → microphone
“Sometimes they get up and they talk for 10 minutes.”
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they → get → minutes
The appearance tracked Mr. Colom's tactic of criticising Mr. Trump's policies — especially the Iran war and tariffs that he said were especially hard on Mississippi farmers — without taking personal jabs at the President or people who voted for him.
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who → track → him
Instead, he consistently put the onus on Ms. Hyde-Smith, framing her as a nonentity in Washington — a critique that resonated in a state that has been accustomed to long-serving senators like Thad Cochran, Trent Lott and John Stennis, who all rose to powerful posts and routed federal money back to Mississippi.
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who → put → Mississippi
There is some irony in Ms. Hyde-Smith finding herself flat-footed against Mr. Colom.
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herself → be → Colom
In 2022, then-President Joe Biden nominated Colom to be a U.S. District Court judge in the Northern District of Mississippi.
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Biden → nominate → Mississippi
Mississippi's senior Republican Senator Roger Wicker and former Gov. Haley Barbour, who is also a former national Republican chairman, backed the nomination.
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who → back → nomination
Ms. Hyde-Smith, however, blocked Mr. Colom's confirmation under the Senate tradition that members can spike a president's choices for federal judicial positions in their home state.
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members → block → state
Mr. Colom said his Senate bid was never about getting even with Ms. Hyde-Smith.
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bid → say → Smith
Mr. Colom called on Mississippi's history.
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Colom → call → history
The Senator-elect concluded his campaign with an ad that featured him at the Jackson home of Medgar Evers, the civil rights leader who, in 1963, was gunned down in his driveway by a white supremacist and died in front of his family.
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that → conclude → family
“In Mississippi, no one is above the law, and no one should be outside its protection,” Mr. Colom said, telling the story of Evers' military service at Normandy in World War II, his voter registration efforts in Mississippi, his assassination and the three decades it took to win a conviction.
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it → say → conviction
“He was killed for helping Mississippians vote,” Mr. Colom said.
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Colom → kill → ?
“On Tuesday, use your vote and honour everyone who died for that right.”
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who → use → right
Black Democrats, including Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, highlighted Colom's bid early.
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Democrats → include → bid
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
