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Archive photo · 13 October 2022Mississippi Senate Race Uncalled With Scott Colom Leading Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 Votes
“A viral ad propelled the Democrat’s campaign.”
“Its grant to the state branch of the nonpartisan NAACP helped open 11 voter registration sites”
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Colom leads Hyde-Smith by about 1,100–1,800 votes as ballots remain. Race remains too close to call across multiple outlets.
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Tight race, no recount
Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race between Cindy Hyde-Smith and Scott Colom remained uncalled as 96% of the expected vote was in, with Colom leading and Hyde-Smith close behind.
The Mississippi Secretary of State Office confirmed that Mississippi has no formal recount process, and that candidates cannot request a recount and a recount cannot be automatically triggered.
The ABC News account said the state instead allows a candidate to perform "a ballot box exam" after the election is certified, and if issues are found the candidate can file a legal challenge.
ABC News also reported that as of Wednesday night Colom had 49% of the vote and Hyde-Smith had 48.9%, with Colom leading by 1,138 votes based on 464,926 votes for Colom and 463,788 for Hyde-Smith.
The BBC said the race was still too close to call with 96% of votes counted as of Thursday morning, and it described Colom’s lead as just over 1,000 votes.
Outstanding ballots
Mississippi’s ballot counting continued with mail ballots still able to arrive for up to five business days after the election if they were postmarked by Election Day, and the Secretary of State Office set that day as Nov. 10, 2026.
ABC News said Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson reported around 3,600 outstanding mail ballots that could be received within the next five business days, and the update also referenced an "unknown number of affidavit ballots" to be processed within the 10-day window counties have to certify their results.
The BBC said about 3,600 absentee ballots remained outstanding as of Wednesday, and it added that several thousand affidavit ballots also remained outstanding, with voters casting them at polling sites if they say they are eligible but do not appear on the rolls.
The Hill reported that Colom led Hyde-Smith by just more than 1,800 votes according to Decision Desk HQ, while counties slowly added a smattering of remaining ballots.
The Hill also said Mississippi’s top election official was waiting on 3,600 outstanding ballots, and it described the remaining votes as not likely to give either candidate a comfortable lead.
Legal and political stakes
As the count continued, both campaigns projected confidence, with Colom telling reporters, "I am very happy with where we stand," and saying, "I'm confident once the process plays out, where we are, where the ballots are, we're gonna win." The BBC said Hyde-Smith’s campaign stated, "We remain confident that when every legally cast vote is fully and accurately counted, Mississippians will have reelected Cindy Hyde-Smith," and it described the state as lacking automatic recounts for tight races. NBC News framed the remaining-vote math by saying Hyde-Smith would need to win 50.9% of the remaining vote to catch or overtake Colom, who leads.
CNN reported that Colom’s campaign said the race could come down to roughly 15,000 provisional ballots, still pending verification, and it quoted Hyde-Smith campaign manager Jake Monssen saying the team was "closely monitoring" the thousands of ballots still outstanding. The Hill said that if Colom pulled off a victory, he would be the first Black senator elected there since Reconstruction, and it added that flipping Mississippi would add to Democrats’ haul in the Senate with votes in Alaska also still being counted.