Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Colom looks on during a campaign stop at Marshall's Music and Book Store, which is recognized as the oldest Black-owned bookstore in the U.S., Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)
- Colom becomes the first Democrat elected to represent the Magnolia State in the U.S. Senate since John Stennis was re-elected in 1982. He is also the first black Mississippi Senator since Republican Blanche Bruce left office in 1881.
After over a week of tallying affidavit and absentee votes, Democrat Scott Colom has been declared the winner in the Mississippi U.S. Senate race, defeating incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Colom becomes the first Democrat elected to represent the Magnolia State in the U.S. Senate since John Stennis was re-elected in 1982. He is also the first black Mississippi Senator since Republican Blanche Bruce left office in 1881.
As it stands ahead of the Friday deadline to certify the results, Colom leads Hyde-Smith by 4,585 votes.
The most recent vote totals show Colom with 472,188 votes, or 49.2%, to Hyde-Smith with 467,603 votes, or 48.7%.
Independent candidate Ty Pinkins drew 20,162 votes, or 2.1%.
There is no runoff in a Mississippi U.S. Senate race when a candidate fails to reach the 50% plus 1 vote threshold. All that is required by state law in federal general elections for a candidate to win is a plurality, or receiving more than any of the other candidates, even if they do not reach 50%.
That has happened before in Mississippi, in this same Senate seat. In 1978, Republican Thad Cochran won his first term to the U.S. Senate over Democrat Maurice Dantin and Independent Charles Evers. Cochran won 45.3% to Dantin’s 31.8% and Evers’ 22.6%. Cochran went on to become Mississippi’s first Republican U.S. Senator since Reconstruction and would serve until 2018. Hyde-Smith was then appointed to succeed Cochran by former Governor Phil Bryant (R).
Colom, who has no legislative experience at any level, now heads to Washington D.C. where Democrats will be in the majority in both chambers of Congress.
In the 100-member Senate, Democrats have secured 55 seats with Colom’s win in Mississippi and could pick up one more in Alaska. Democrat Mary Peltola leads incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by 4,000 votes with 84% reporting.
Over in the House, Democrats have won 255 of 435 seats, with 12 yet to be determined.
Colom’s first decision will be who he will back for Senate Majority Leader on December 1. New York Senator Chuck Schumer, the current Minority Leader, is expected to take the reins even with some push back in his ranks from those calling for a change of the guard.
Mississippi’s Senator-elect has said having both Schumer and incoming Speaker Hakeem Jeffries of New York from the same borough gives him pause. However, Schumer was instrumental in Colom’s entry into the race and has called flipping Mississippi his “white whale.” Colom’s support of Schumer would be no surprise if that is where his vote lands.
How the historic win in Mississippi lends itself to how influential the incoming freshman will be in the U.S. Senate remains to be seen.
Hyde-Smith has served on the Senate Appropriations Committee, following Cochran, as well as on the Committees on Agriculture, Energy and Rules.
Colom told Magnolia Tribune in July that if elected, he would seek to serve on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee.
“Those would be the two I would say first. You know, our senior Senator is on Armed Services so he’s got a big voice there, so I would try to get on those two, those would be the first two,” Colom said.
He said then that he knew it could be difficult to get a seat on Appropriations, but that both committees, as well the transportation subcommittee, are important to Mississippi.
Colom’s Background and a Recap of the U.S. Senate Race
In 2015, Colom ousted a nearly 30-year incumbent to win the District Attorney seat in the 16th Circuit Court District. He went on to run unopposed in his 2019 re-election bid and defeated a Republican challenger in 2023 to secure his third term.
Colom drew attention from having George Soros’ support in the District Attorney race. Soros was the sole reported donor to the Mississippi Safety & Justice PAC that supported Colom’s 2015 campaign. That PAC made over $700,000 in expenditures in support of Colom’s bid for District Attorney during this first campaign, according to paperwork filed with the Secretary of State.
Colom’s entrance in the U.S. Senate race came in September 2025 after years of speculation that he was indeed the Mississippi Democratic Party’s chosen candidate to run against Hyde-Smith this cycle.
The Lowndes County District Attorney told Magnolia Tribune in an interview in July that his desire to run for U.S. Senate grew out of being denied a hearing when he was nominated for a federal judicial post by former President Joe Biden (D).
It was Hyde-Smith who did not return a “blue slip” for Colom in 2023 after Biden nominated him for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. The “blue slip” process is a sign-off Senators have on district court nominees in their home states. Return the slip and the process moves forward. Choose not to return it and it is essentially a veto of the nominee by the Senator.
Hyde-Smith told Magnolia Tribune at the time that she was concerned about Colom’s opposition to legislation to protect female athletes. She also expressed concern over the “significant support his [DA] campaign received from George Soros.”
After Colom’s announced run for U.S. Senate in September 2025, Alex Soros, the son and heir apparent of George Soros’ sprawling political empire, hosted a New York fundraiser, continuing their relationship with the now Senator-elect.
Colom has referred to himself as “a commonsense Democrat with Mississippi values,” while accepting support and funding from progressive organizations and high-profile national party leaders. Colom even received a shoutout from Angie Nixon in September, to which the Mississippi Democrat said he has been “blown away” by the Democratic Socialist’s grassroots movement in her Florida U.S. Senate campaign.
In October 2025, he attended a ‘No Kings’ protest in Jackson. Partners in the anti-Trump protests include Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, anti-capitalist advocates, democratic socialist groups, labor and teacher unions, and other progressive organizations and fundraising arms of the Democratic Party. George Soros’ Open Society has been tied to the operational funding behind the groups organizing the ‘No Kings’ protests.
Colom began his campaign for U.S. Senate last year by making a fake phone call to a woman he identified to be Hyde-Smith, which it was not. Hyde-Smith’s campaign reported him for impersonating a Senator.
Colom went on to use other fake content during the campaign, one AI generated video in particular which drew the ire of the Mississippi Republican Party in October. The Mississippi Republican Party asked the Attorney General to investigate and seek injunctive relief over Colom’s use of the video. After review, Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R) notified Colom that the video did appear to violate state law against the use of “deepfakes” to influence elections.
Over the closing weeks of the campaign, Colom welcomed a slew of national Democrats to the Magnolia State to stump alongside him, leaning into the national party brand, a rare act for a Mississippi Democrat.
Joining Colom on the campaign trail in Mississippi were former President Bill Clinton, Congressman Jim Clyburn, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, Delaware U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester, Maryland U.S. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, New Jersey U.S. Senator Cory Booker, and former Biden-era U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Former President Barack Obama also appeared in a campaign ad in support of Colom.
One of the outside PACs supporting Colom even brought back Hyde-Smith’s Republican Primary challenger, Sarah Adlakha, for an appearance in an ad ahead of the General Election, despite the fact that Adlakha has since moved to Alabama.
Hyde-Smith, which received the endorsement of President Donald Trump and nearly all Mississippi Republican elected officials, welcomed the President back to the state in the lead up to the General Election to help shore up support. Yet, despite the President encouraging voters to go to the polls like he was on the ballot, Mississippi Republican turnout paled in comparison to 2024, down nearly 280,000 votes. Democrats only increased their vote total from 2024 by over 5,000.
While Hyde-Smith outraised Colom this cycle, bringing in over $6 million compared to $4 million, Colom benefitted far more from outside PAC spending, to the tune of nearly $16 million, according to data compiled by VoteLog. Hyde-Smith, on the other hand, only saw $2.4 million in outside PAC spending.
Colom’s campaign was widely successful in raising his name ID, mainly from mid-summer to the closing weeks of the campaign, using social media ads to attract attention, gain viewers, and create energy around the race. Hyde-Smith’s campaign was unable to respond in ways that connected with voters or countered Colom’s messaging.
One of his most popular ads shared a clip of Hyde-Smith being asked about the cost of beef. Colom used the line, “Pick another protein?” and then said, “Pick another Senator.”
But that idea for an ad against Hyde-Smith using the clip did not originate from Colom. The Republican Primary challenger Adlakha shared a similar social media ad in February.
For many Republican onlookers, Adlakha’s ad and the seemingly coordinated messaging between the two campaigns, solidified their belief that she was a “Democratic plant,” “coordinating” with Colom’s campaign all along.
Colom’s campaign did have a misstep in October, initially denying a mugshot of the Lowndes County District Attorney from 2001 shared by the Hyde-Smith campaign was “fake,” further claiming that it was “likely being generated by AI.”
However, Magnolia Tribune learned and reported that the mugshot was indeed real. According to the 2001 arrest record from the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center, Colom was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor when he was 18 years old.
The re-election campaign for Hyde-Smith shared the mugshot of Colom on the website created to challenge the Democrat’s positions on transgender surgeries for children and his ties to liberal financier George Soros.
Frank Corder
