Mississippi Senate race hovers within 1,100 votes

Democrat Scott Colom holds a narrow lead over incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate race. By early Thursday morning, Colom was ahead by just over 1,100 votes. At one point Wednesday morning, the gap between the two candidates was only a few dozen votes.

The race has remained unresolved despite heavy polling in a state that President Donald Trump won by 20 points in 2024. Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1982. Hyde-Smith, 67, has served in the chamber since 2018. Colom, 43, is a district attorney and a seventh-generation Mississippian.

Democrats invested in the contest in the weeks before the election. They viewed the race as a potential pickup after securing multiple Senate victories on Tuesday. Those wins allowed Democrats to secure enough seats for a majority in the new year. A victory for Colom would expand that majority.

Colom campaigned on cost of living and health care issues. He told supporters in the early hours of Wednesday that the results were trending in his direction. He noted that he was winning in counties where he was not expected to compete.

“We are trending in counties that people thought we had no chance to compete in,” Colom said. “And we’re winning them.”

The final outcome in Mississippi remains pending alongside the Alaska Senate race. The combined results of both states will determine the final size of the Democratic majority in the next Congress.