Democrat Colom wins Mississippi Senate seat, becomes state's first Black senator since 1874

WASHINGTON: Democratic challenger Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi election for the US Senate, media projected on Wednesday (Nov 11), making him the Southern state's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the US Civil War.

The result was a stunning upset in the heavily Republican state and expanded on the national drubbing the Democrats delivered to President Donald Trump's Republicans in the Nov 3 midterm elections.

The Mississippi victory gives the Democrats a 55-44 advantage in the 100-member Senate, with the winner in one Senate race from last week's election - in Alaska - yet to be determined. The Democrats have also gained 41 seats in the House of Representatives so far, holding an advantage of 254 to 168 with 13 races yet to be called.

In losing control of both chambers, Trump faces a Democratic-controlled Congress for the first time in either of his two terms, presenting the opposition party a chance to block highly partisan legislation and investigate Trump's administration.

The Mississippi Senate race was one of the final outstanding races to be called since last week's elections. Mississippi election officials have spent more than a week counting ballots in a race that was so tight that Colom at times led by only a few dozen votes. The latest media-tabulated results showed him ahead by more than 4,500 votes, or 0.5 percentage points.

Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, became the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982.

Hyde-Smith, 67, who was first elected in 2018, had consistently led in opinion polls in a state that Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Trump campaigned in Mississippi for Hyde-Smith near the end of the race.

Colom told Reuters in an October interview that Mississippi voters felt betrayed by Trump policies such as the war in Iran, which has driven up fuel prices.

On the campaign trail, Colom said, he focused on reaching voters through town halls as well as visits to public housing, festivals and food trucks. "We did it the hard way, the grassroots way," he said.

October rallies with Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Cory Booker of New Jersey boosted his campaign.

The last Black candidate elected to the Senate in Mississippi was former slave Blanche Bruce in 1874.

In 2023, Hyde-Smith blocked Colom's nomination by former President Joe Biden to serve as a federal district judge in northern Mississippi, citing his position on transgender issues. Mississippi's other US senator, Republican Roger Wicker, supported his nomination for the post.