Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's U.S. Senate race on Wednesday, November 11, becoming the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction — the first since Blanche K. Bruce, elected in 1874 — and the first Democrat to win the seat since John Stennis in 1982. CNN and NBC News projected Colom the winner, and the Associated Press called the race on Wednesday after days of counting absentee and provisional ballots.
The latest media-tabulated results showed Colom ahead by about half a percentage point, or roughly 4,600 votes, Reuters reported. Mississippi is the eighth Senate seat Democrats have flipped from Republicans in this year's midterm elections, giving the party a 55-44 advantage in the 100-member Senate, with the race in Alaska still undecided. Democrats have also gained 41 seats in the House so far, leading 254 to 168 with 13 races yet to be called, according to Reuters.
A concession, then a celebration at Tougaloo College
Hyde-Smith, 67, called Colom to concede earlier on Wednesday, according to his campaign, and later posted a video message congratulating him and wishing him well. She had been appointed to the Senate in 2018 and won a special election later that year, and she had consistently led in opinion polls in a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Trump campaigned in Mississippi for Hyde-Smith near the end of the race.
Colom celebrated on Wednesday night at Tougaloo College, the historically Black university in Jackson, where he opened his victory address with a tribute to Hiram Revels, the first Black U.S. senator — also from Mississippi. "God didn't want us to get it the easy way," Colom said. "He wanted us to get it the Mississippi way."
"For months and months, I've been telling everybody, everywhere I go, that we're going to win this election," Colom told the crowd of more than 300 supporters. "Because it's not something that I did, y'all. It's something that we did. All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this."
"I have the courage to believe in Mississippi," he said. "I have the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters."
Many in the crowd held signs that read "Picked another senator," a twist on the campaign ad that carried Colom to victory. Representative Bennie Thompson, the lone Democrat in Mississippi's federal delegation until Colom's election, was among those on stage. Hundreds of supporters gathered on the lawn outside Woodworth Chapel, which served as a meeting ground for civil rights leaders in the 1960s and 1970s, including Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer and Medgar Evers. The rally ended with DJ Khaled's "All I Do Is Win."
How a long shot won a state Trump carried by 23 points
The race was not called on Election Day, November 3. Colom held a razor-thin but growing lead as election workers tallied mail-in and affidavit ballots in a wave of voter turnout that was nearly unprecedented, the Clarion Ledger reported. Both parties sent legal teams to monitor the counting.
Colom, 43, a seventh-generation Mississippian and the district attorney for Mississippi's 16th Judicial District since 2016, campaigned on lowering the cost of living and protecting health care, repeating the same slogan at every event: "lower costs, higher wages, save our hospitals, save our health care." He flipped at least 18 counties that voted for Trump in 2024, according to the USA TODAY Network, including some that have not elected a Democratic senator since the 1980s.
His breakout moment was a campaign ad built around Hyde-Smith's suggestion that consumers facing soaring beef prices had "so many proteins to choose from." Voters in the ad answered: "Pick another protein? I'd rather pick another senator instead." The spot drew 2.8 million views in its first 36 hours across social media platforms.
"There were times that I couldn't get donors to answer the phone," Colom said at his victory rally. "They did not believe a moment like this was possible. But I kept the faith."
National Democrats invested in the race late, sensing a narrow opening, and former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris stumped for Colom across the state. Clinton congratulated him on social media, writing: "We may have had to count One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, but Blue Mississippi sure has a nice ring to it!" Colom told Reuters in an October interview that Mississippi voters felt betrayed by Trump policies such as the war in Iran, which he said had driven up fuel prices.
No strangers: the judgeship Hyde-Smith blocked
The contest was also personal. In 2023, President Joe Biden nominated Colom, then a district attorney, to serve as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Mississippi. Hyde-Smith thwarted the nomination by refusing to submit a "blue slip" to the Senate Judiciary Committee — a step that, without a home-state senator's support, prevents a lifetime judicial appointment from advancing. Hyde-Smith said she objected to Colom's support of transgender rights. About two and a half years later, Colom launched his Senate campaign against her.
What the win changes — and what remains
The Mississippi result completes a Democratic takeover of both chambers of Congress in the midterms, leaving Trump facing a Democratic-controlled Congress for the first time in either of his two terms, with the opposition able to block partisan legislation and investigate his administration. Colom will be sworn in next January, Al Jazeera reported, and the 120th Congress will include a record seven Black senators.
"Hallelujah!" National Urban League President Marc Morial told USA TODAY. "It is one of the most significant political victories in American history, given what Mississippi has represented: the long, long history of oppression and white supremacy."
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement on November 11: "Mississippi voters made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged, or counted out."
What remains: Mississippi certifies its results on December 3, and the Senate race in Alaska is still undecided. Colom, who has not lost an election, will take his seat in January as the first Black senator from the state with the largest Black population share in the country — 145 years after Blanche K. Bruce, who was born into slavery, left the Senate in 1881.
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Sources: Reuters, November 11, 2026; USA Today, November 11, 2026; Clarion Ledger, November 11, 2026; Al Jazeera, November 11, 2026; Associated Press, November 11, 2026. Cover photo: Scott Colom in October 2026, by The Contrarian, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).