USAupdated 1h ago3 min read
Scott Colom Widens Lead Over Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi Senate Race
“Colom has held at least eight events and capitalized on the national attention of the race”
“With no recount law on the books in Mississippi, every vote matters in this race’s paper-thin margin.”
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Colom holds a narrow lead over Hyde-Smith with most votes counted. The race remains too close to call, prompting anticipated legal action.
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Colom leads, Hyde-Smith unseen
Democrat Scott Colom maintained a narrow lead over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi as the Senate race remained too close to call, with Clarin saying provisional results showed Colom at 49% and Hyde-Smith at 48.9% with a gap of just 1,813 votes.
“‘We want to hear from her. She needs to answer questions.”
Scott Colom held at least eight events since Election Day, while Cindy Hyde-Smith had not been seen publicly since leaving her election night watch party just outside of Jackson after declaring that she would remain her state’s junior senator.
Clarin said roughly 96% of the vote had been counted, and it described the remaining mail ballots and provisional ballots as keeping open a contest that could lead to a prolonged legal battle.
Colom made his statements solely on X, including posting a Bible verse about hope on Sunday, and Colom told reporters on Friday at the senior citizens facility in Jackson, “We want to hear from her. She needs to answer questions.”
Clarin said Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982, when William Winter won the seat, and it said Colom could become the state’s first Black senator since the Reconstruction era after the Civil War.
Ballots, deadlines, and challenges
Ballots were still being counted in the nail-biter as lawyers for both parties prepared for a potential legal battle, and Colom led Hyde-Smith by 2,574 ballots with 97% of expected votes estimated to have been counted. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson, a Republican, said his office does not know how many provisional ballots are remaining, and Watson said 11,202 had been processed, 78% of which had been accepted. Clarin said state law allows counting mail ballots that were shipped by Election Day and arrive within five business days after the election, and it said counties have until November 13 to complete counting the last ballots.
Hyde-Smith’s campaign began laying the groundwork for possible challenges by sending letters to election officials asking them to separate certain provisional ballots from the rest of the votes, and the campaign said, “We believe thousands of votes remain to be counted in dozens of Republican counties.” Colom’s campaign rejected those maneuvers and said it will defend every legally cast vote, and campaign manager Gerard Henderson said, “We trust that, when all legal votes are counted, Scott Colom will be the next senator from Mississippi.”
What happens next
As of Friday, 9,242 affidavit ballots had been processed and 3,139 mail ballots were still outstanding, and voter ID issues can be resolved up to Nov. 10.
Colom leads and Hyde-Smith would need to win 53.2% of the remaining vote to catch or overtake Colom, as the Senate race continued to hinge on the remaining ballots.
Clarin said thousands of votes awaiting counting keep open a contest that could lead to a prolonged legal battle, and it said electoral uncertainty now centers on mail ballots and provisional ballots whose processing could extend for several days.
The New York Times described Angela Lewis, a psychiatric nurse in Meridian, Miss., praying in the parking lot after an overnight shift, and it quoted her saying, “I called all my kids, and I told them that if they love me… they better get out of that bed in the morning and they better go vote.”
The New York Times said Colom’s potential victory would put him on the cusp of history by taking the seat once held by Hiram Revels, the nation’s first Black senator, who was elected in 1870, and it tied the moment to the Reconstruction era.