The Guardian·United Kingdom·Thursday, November 12, 2026 at 12:30 AM UTC

Democrat Scott Colom to be first Black senator elected in Mississippi since 1874 after narrow win – US politics live

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Tom Ambrose, Lucy Campbell, Shrai Popat, Robert Mackey, Adria R Walker, Richard Luscombe, Jessica Glenza, Sam Levine

The Associated Press now projects that Democrat Scott Colom has been elected to the US Senate to represent Mississippi, defeating the Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.

The AP made the call after Colom’s lead expanded to 4,669 votes on Wednesday.

Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom spoke on the phone at his campaign office in Jackson, Mississippi on Wednesday, wearing a Richard Pryor hoodie. — Scott Colom speaks on the phone at his campaign office in Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday. Photograph: Ellen Schmidt/AP

Colom will be Mississippi’s first Black senator since 1881, when Blanche Kelso Bruce, who was born into slavery, served during the post-civil war Reconstruction era. In 1874, Bruce was elected by Mississippi’s state legislature to serve in the US Senate, a seat he held from 1875 to 1881.

Colom, a local prosecutor, waged a savvy campaign to take advantage of Donald Trump’s deep unpopularity, making a viral campaign ad that focused on the high price of beef and even talking to Trump supporters waiting on line before a rally the president held for Hyde-Smith in Mississippi the week before the election.

After Hyde-Smith appeared on stage with Trump, Colom’s campaign posted video of her praising the unpopular president with the theme music from Curb Your Enthusiasm added to the clip.

Key events

In a video statement posted on social media on Wednesday, Mississippi Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith acknowledged that she has lost her seat to Democrat Scott Colom.

“While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” Hyde-Smith said. “I want to congratulate Scot Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”

The ad is simple, less than half a minute long, but many say it was the moment the nation took notice of Mississippi’s US Senate race.

In it, the incumbent Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a cattle farmer, answers a reporter’s question about the rising price of beef: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from,” she says.

The ad then cuts to a man flipping burgers on a grill. “Pick another protein?” he says. “Shhiiiiii – I’d rather pick another senator instead.”

Scott Colom’s viral “Pick another protein?” ad.

The viral ad was for Hyde-Smith’s Democratic challenger, Scott Colom, who won the Senate seat on Wednesday, becoming the first Democratic senator in Mississippi since 1982 and its first Black senator since the Reconstruction era. His ads were relevant to Mississippians and created memorable slogans – an early ad highlighted the history and progress of the state, while a more recent one spoofed the hit film Sinners, filmed in Mississippi. But his efforts to engage Mississippians didn’t start there.

Colom spent the past year reaching Mississippi residents where they were. From driving a “pick another protein” truck that offered free tacos, to talking to students and alums at college homecomings, to chatting with voters queued to see Donald Trump, Colom campaigned on an idea that’s not novel to Mississippians, but one that the rest of the country is only starting to fully realize: “Mississippi Matters.”

And he did it with little help from the Democratic party.

The Associated Press now projects that Democrat Scott Colom has been elected to the US Senate to represent Mississippi, defeating the Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.

The AP made the call after Colom’s lead expanded to 4,669 votes on Wednesday.

After Hyde-Smith appeared on stage with Trump, Colom’s campaign posted video of her praising the unpopular president with the theme music from Curb Your Enthusiasm added to the clip.

Democrat Scott Colom’s lead grew to 4,585 votes in the Mississippi Senate race on Wednesday, according to a running tally from the Associated Press.

While the Guardian is still waiting for the AP to call the race, the latest tally just convinced CNN to project that Colom will defeat the incumbent Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith once the small number of remaining ballots are counted.

While Mississippi has no state law mandating a recount, Colom now leads, with 49.2% of the vote to Hyde-Smith’s 48.7%, which would put his lead above the half-percentage-point margin that triggers an automatic machine recount in other states, like Florida.

According to the Mississippi Free Press, a non-profit newsroom in the state, Mississippi’s largest county, Hinds county, reported on Wednesday that it had completed its review of so-called affidavit ballots, which were those with some sort of technical error. The county accepted 817 affidavit ballots, but rejected 1,609 others, a rejection rate that is higher than most counties in the state.

The rejection of so many ballots for minor, technical flaws frustrated many Democrats, including Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2023 and a second-cousin of a late Mississippi musician some readers might be familiar with.

“Watching provisional ballot after provisional ballot get thrown out because the POLL WORKER, not the voter didn’t initial the ballot makes me sick,” Presley posted on social media on Tuesday. “In those cases, the voter did nothing wrong and was GIVEN the ballot by a POLL WORKER, the affidavit is signed by a POLL WORKER. That’s a preponderance of evidence it’s a legit vote.”

On Wednesday, as Colom’s lead expanded, Presley urged the AP to “call the race” because “this is done, done, done. To delay this call only erodes credibility.”

We have another update to the count in the Mississippi Senate race, which shows that Democrat Scott Colom now leads the incumbent Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 4,404 votes.

According to a running tally from the Associated Press, Colom now has 471,757 votes, or 49.2%, to Hyde-Smith’s 467,353, or 48.7%.

Scott Colom, Senate candidate, smiles and gestures beside his campaign banner — Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom at his campaign's office on 11 November. Photograph: Ellen Schmidt/AP

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and members of his team were reprimanded by a US sentinel at Arlington national cemetery, according to video captured today by the TV network pool.

Earlier, at the Veterans Day commemoration that Donald Trump attended, there was footage of Hegseth posing for pictures with his team in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. After some members of the group appeared to talk and laugh, the guard called out: “All visitors will maintain an atmosphere of silence and respect at all times.”

According to CNN, Hegseth was with his wife, Jennifer; his chief of staff, Ricky Buria; his deputy chief of staff, Patrick Weaver; and senior adviser and deputy assistant Tami Radabaugh.

In a statement, a Pentagon spokesperson told the Guardian that the defense secretary and the entire Department of Defense “have always honored – and will always honor – the sacrifices our military men and women have made to keep America safe”.

“While commemorating this solemn day, a soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum,” the spokesperson added.

The incident happened just a day after House Republicans were able to extinguish the effort to impeach Hegseth for launching a war in Iran without congressional approval, among other alleged violations.

At a Wednesday morning whips meeting, the congresswoman Katherine Clark, the House minority whip, reportedly said Democrats disappointed the American people after 11 representatives missed that key procedural vote to bring the articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth to the House floor, according to MS Now.

The outlet cited a senior House Democratic aide who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the private meeting.

According to MS Now’s reporting, Clark did note that had all Republicans been present, along with all Democrats, the effort would have still failed since Thomas Massie, the outgoing GOP representative who introduced the resolution, was the only member to cross the aisle.

Some Democrats, out of the 11 who missed the key procedural vote on Tuesday to impeach Pete Hegseth, blamed a traffic jam in Washington DC for their inability to make it to the US Capitol in time. On social media, a number of representatives said that they were stuck behind a motorcade, causing them to miss the voting window. By a vote of 211-204, Republicans referred the articles of impeachment to the judiciary committee – effectively killing the effort to oust Hegseth. Since several outgoing Republicans were not back in Washington, if those Democrats voted to block the move the impeachment resolution would have headed to the House floor for a full debate and vote.
The House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, is now facing criticism for apparently failing to pressure members of his party to be present for a crucial vote. When asked by reporters about the absences, Jeffries – who is poised to become the next Speaker – said that he had not “had a conversation with anyone on the floor team about what may or may not have happened”. He added that the resolution would likely be revived: “This is not the end of it. It’s just the beginning.” Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic senator-elect from Michigan, said the absent lawmakers should “show up and do your job” in an interview on Tuesday with CNN.
Also today, Donald Trump praised Hegseth, after Republicans were able to successfully tank the impeachment effort against the embattled defense secretary. At Arlington national cemetery, after the president mentioned Hegseth there was applause from the crowd in attendance. “I had a feeling that was going to happen,” Trump said. “He’s done a fantastic job,” the president said of his defense secretary. “He loves you, and he protects you – he’s all about you.”
The White House’s top lawyer, Will Scharf, has sent a letter to Democratic congressman Robert Garcia, the incoming chair of the House oversight committee, threatening Democrats with criminal investigations if they launch oversight inquiries purely “deployed to harass and aggrandize” members of the Trump administration that could verge into “blatant criminality”. This comes as Democrats have vowed to investigate cabinet members and issue subpoenas to allies in the president’s orbit. Scharf, however, said that the White House is monitoring “abusive and capricious threats that are now proliferating from Democrat legislators who seek to abuse the legislative process to intimidate and to interfere with the lawful functioning of government”.
Garcia, however, remained undeterred in his response to the letter. “It appears Donald Trump has something to hide. Let’s be clear,” the top Democrat said in a statement. “Congress has wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight, an authority inherent in the power to legislate.” He added that the administration “continues to weaponize the government” with threats of “unconstitutional attacks” on lawmakers.
Democrat Scott Colom is now leading Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 3,783 votes in the nail-biting US Senate Race in Mississippi. With 98% of the votes counted, and yesterday’s ballot deadline, we await for the race to be called imminently. If Colom wins, it will be a remarkable upset in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat as senator since 1982, and in a state that Donald Trump carried by 22 points in 2024.

A quick update on the US Senate race in Mississippi: Democrat Scott Colom is now leading Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by 3,783 votes, with 98% of the votes counted. The Associated Press has yet to call the race.

In response to the White House general counsel’s letter to oversight Democrats – threatening them with criminal investigations if their probes in the next Congress are used to purely “deployed to harass and aggrandize” members of the Trump administration – the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said that the White House has been used to Republicans that act as “nothing more than a reckless rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s extreme agenda”.

The Democratic congressman, poised to become the House speaker when his party takes control in January, said that the new majority is going to be a “check and balance on an out-of-control executive branch in the face of unprecedented corruption that they’ve unleashed on the American people”.

He added: “If they don’t like it, consult the constitution.”

With Republicans still reeling from the party’s midterms shellacking and searching for a path out of the political wilderness, a growing faction in Congress are pushing for the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, to be the party’s 2028 presidential nominee, Politico reports today.

Citing interviews with about two dozen GOP lawmakers, the outlet reports that a growing number in the party view Rubio as “a better fit”, given what they feel voters see as JD Vance’s proximity to Donald Trump and the president’s unpopularity.

“I hope he runs. I think he’s the best person to communicate, to unify,” representative Marlin Stutzman told Politico of Rubio. Asked about why he supported Rubio over the vice-president, he said:

I think he’s the most talented Republican by far. We’re going to have to continue to re-message, put some new faces up.

Indeed, the election wipeout “certainly makes it harder for Vance”, said one GOP senator. One House Republican added:

I think Rubio is our best hope to lead Republicans out of this wilderness, and I hope he makes his break from Trump and JD early next year.

A person close to Rubio told Politico that he’s the only person who knows what he will do regarding a presidential bid. As of right now, he’s “fully focused on doing his many jobs and isn’t thinking about 2028”.

The problem for Vance is one he appears very much aware of. A reminder that the day after the midterms, he posted a lengthy social media statement attributing the party’s historic losses to the war on Iran, in a clear bid to distance himself from the unpopular conflict ahead of a potential 2028 presidential run. Vance was reportedly sceptical of the war, but he also served as the face of ceasefire efforts for a time.

Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, has died “suddenly” at the age of 66 after just one and a half years in the job, Moscow’s foreign ministry announced on Wednesday.

The ministry called Darchiev an “outstanding diplomat, an experienced leader and a kind colleague”. Moscow did not give more details on the death.

Darchiev previously served as Russia’s ambassador to Canada between 2021 and 2024. He was appointed to the US role in March last year, shortly after Donald Trump returned to power, and several years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Darchiev was a specialist in Russia-US relations and was the director of the foreign ministry’s North America department between 2014 and 2020.

In 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine, Darchiev called the move a “necessary measure”.

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