a man smiling in a dark suit
Scott Colom on 3 November 2026, in Jackson, Mississippi. Photograph: Eric Shelton/AP
Scott Colom on 3 November 2026, in Jackson, Mississippi. Photograph: Eric Shelton/AP
Democrat Scott Colom unseats Cindy Hyde-Smith in shocking Mississippi Senate win

Colom takes victory by razor-thin margin in state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982

Democrat Scott Colom defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent Republican senator, to become the first Black senator in Mississippi elected since reconstruction, in a stunning upset after more than a week of vote counting in one of the country’s most reliably red states.