USAupdated 25m ago2 min read
Democrat Scott Colom Wins Historic Mississippi Senate Race, First Since 1874
“Colom strove to engage Republican voters, even going to a Trump rally to speak to people in line outside.”
“Following the decision, Mississippi Republican Gov. Tate Reeves called on the legislature to pass a new map sometime before 2027”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith to win Mississippi's Senate seat. He becomes Mississippi's first Black senator since 1874, marking a historic milestone.
Save coverage image
Colom wins Mississippi Senate
Democrat Scott Colom won the US Senate race in Mississippi, becoming the first black person from Mississippi to be seated in the US Senate since 1874. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent Republican, received 48.7% of the vote, while Colom won with 49.2%, with fewer than five thousand votes out of nearly a million counted separating them. Colom, 43, delivered his victory speech on the campus of Tougaloo College, where he told supporters, "They did not believe a moment like this was possible, but I kept the faith," and added, "It's not something that I did y'all," and "It's something we did."
Hyde-Smith congratulated Colom in a video posted on X on Wednesday evening and said, "While this was not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters." The result meant Democrats would hold 55 seats in the 100-member Senate, with a knife-edge race in Alaska still to be called.
Black women drive turnout
Black women made up 20% of the electorate in Mississippi, compared to 5% nationally, and Colom won 99% of their votes.
France 24 said the Associated Press declared Colom's victory on Wednesday after local election officials spent several days processing absentee and provisional ballots, called sworn statements in Mississippi.
LaTosha Brown, a longtime voting rights activist and co-founder of Black Voters Matter, told CNN, "Mississippi is not a fluke. The new political battleground for America is the South."
Colom honored civil rights icon and Mississippian Fannie Lou Hamer during his victory speech at Tougaloo College, and he said, "As my mom would always tell me, faith without works is dead, and we worked this election, y'all."
France 24 said the Associated Press declared Colom's victory on Wednesday after local election officials spent several days processing absentee and provisional ballots, called sworn statements in Mississippi.
Democrats face next tests
In Mississippi, "Black Votes Still Count for Less, Advocates Lament," and it pointed to legislative and constitutional barriers affecting representation and voting.
Gov. Tate Reeves has said it is a matter of when, not if, the tenure ends for Rep. Bennie Thompson, and it described Thompson as the sole Black member of the state’s congressional delegation holding one of Mississippi’s four House seats.
Colom stood in the driveway of the house that once belonged to Medgar Evers and quoted Colom saying, "He was killed for helping Mississippians vote," while also quoting Colom’s call, "On Tuesday, use your vote and honor everyone who died for that right."
Colom was expected to be a winner after several days of watching a sliver of a vote count in his favor slowly increase, and it described Democrats as facing questions about whether they denied Black voters and the South more power.
Colom was likely to be Mississippi’s next U.S. senator, winning by a measly 0.27 percentage points as of Tuesday morning as votes continued to be tallied.