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Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Race, Defeating Cindy Hyde-Smith
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Scott Colom defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to win Mississippi Senate seat. Colom becomes first Black senator from Mississippi in about 150 years.
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Colom wins Mississippi Senate
Democrat Scott Colom won the US Senate race in Mississippi, delivering a historic victory for Democrats in a state that has elected Republicans for decades. Colom, 43, won with 49.2% of the vote while Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith received 48.7% and an independent candidate got 2.1%, according to figures from CBS.
Hyde-Smith congratulated Colom in a video posted on X, saying, "While this was not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," and wished him well. Colom offered a 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," before saying, "It's something we did."
Celebrations and campaign echoes
About a thousand people gathered on the Woodworth Chapel Lawn at Tougaloo College in Jackson, where a DJ played classic southern line dance tunes as supporters waited for Colom to arrive.
Rev. Maxine Bolden told the Guardian, "it meant everything" to her to be there, and she said, "I stand not only for me and for my children and grandchildren, but my parents are not here to see this,".
Colom told the Guardian, "All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this," and he said, "I had the courage to believe in Mississippi."
CNN described Raphael Warnock telling a Washington, DC fundraiser in April, "There's one race I think we're sleeping on, and that's Mississippi," as he urged Democrats to focus on the deep-red state.
CNN also quoted Colom telling the crowd after a rally, "Other people are scared — no, I want him to answer why he didn't release the Epstein files, why he betrayed the farmers," before saying, "I’m ready to go."
What the win changes
The result means Democrats will hold 55 seats in the 100-member Senate, with a knife-edge race in Alaska still to be called. The New York Times said Colom’s win sent a wave of elation through Mississippi Democrats who last won a Senate race in 1982, and it reported that Colom invoked the civil rights movement and his faith in a speech at Tougaloo College. Colom told supporters, "God didn't want us to get it the easy way," and he added, "He wanted us to get it the Mississippi way."
The Hill reported that Hyde-Smith conceded Wednesday evening, saying, "While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," and it said there is no automatic recount procedure in the state. The Hill also reported that lawyers for the Senate GOP’s campaign arm demanded that state election officials preserve records and provisional ballots, while Colom’s lawyers called the move "unlawful."