USAupdated 31m ago2 min read
Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Race, Defeating Cindy Hyde-Smith
“As the nation held its breath, the state’s slow counting process turned partisan.”
“The margin was so close that the race could not be called until more than a week after election day”
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 Cindy Hyde-Smith to win Mississippi Senate race. He becomes Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction era.
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Colom upsets Hyde-Smith
Democrat Scott Colom won the U.S. Senate race in Mississippi, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith after days of counting that left the result unable to be called until more than a week after election day.
“Blue Mississippi is here. Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done.”
Colom became the Southern state's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the US Civil War, and Colom would become the deep-red state's first Democratic senator in over four decades.
Colom, 43, was projected to win as the Democratic majority in the Senate reached 55 seats, with a knife-edge race in Alaska still to be called.
Colom at times led by only a few dozen votes during the tight race, and Trump campaigned in Mississippi for Hyde-Smith near the end of the race.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, "Blue Mississippi is here. Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done."
Counting disputes and recount
Indiana Democrats prepared for a legal battle and could request a recount after Clark County’s election board decided against a hand recount at a polling place where a voting machine jammed, CNN reported.
A malfunctioning voting machine at Jeffersonville High School led to poll workers recording voter names by hand, and the total tally of votes cast at the precinct was 28 higher than the number of names recorded in the electronic pollbook.
The two GOP members of the Clark County Election Board voted down a motion by the board’s Democratic chairman to initiate a recount, and Sen. Chris Garten responded on X that "every ballot cast has been counted."
Garten said, "That is not up for debate," and he added, "I remain confident in the reported results, my 297-vote margin of victory, and the certification process ahead."
CNN also reported that Garten said, "That is not up for debate," and it said he added, "I remain confident in the reported results, my 297-vote margin of victory, and the certification process ahead."
Congress, investigations, and next
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushed back on a White House warning to Democratic investigators, saying, "That’s an outrageous statement," while Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia said Congress has "wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight."
Jeffries would not say whether Democrats will try to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth once they have the majority, but Jeffries added that Hegseth "has got to go" and Democrats are "committed to making sure that that happens."
Colom’s win came after a razor-thin lead as more votes continued to be counted, and the only Senate race left to be called was in Alaska.
CNN projected Colom would win and the AP followed about an hour later, and the vote count had been watched for a week with a vote drop on Wednesday afternoon showing he led Hyde-Smith by more than 4,500 votes per the AP.
Democrats could hold 56 seats in the Senate if Democrat Mary Peltola wins the still-undecided Alaska Senate race, and Reuters projected the race as one of the final outstanding races to be called since Tuesday's elections.