Lead report from BBC News
What happened
Democrat Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's U.S. Senate race following a period of ballot counting and deadlines. Colom's victory makes him the first Black senator elected from Mississippi in more than 140 years and the state's first Democratic senator in decades. Outlets reported that the race was closely contested before being called by the Associated Press and other major networks.
All reports agree that Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate race following a close contest and subsequent ballot counting.
Left-leaning outlets like Axios and Politico emphasized the historic nature of the flip in the Deep South and its significance for the Democratic Party. Center and right-leaning outlets, such as Bloomberg and the Washington Examiner, highlighted the state's prior strong support for Donald Trump to underscore the magnitude of the upset. Right-leaning outlets including The Daily Signal also focused closely on the mechanics of the razor-thin margin and affidavit ballots before the race was officially called.
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Colom builds on slim lead over Hyde-Smith in Mississippi Senate contest
Democrat Scott Colom has built on his lead in the closely watched Mississippi Senate race, now ahead of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) by nearly 4,500 votes, or about half a percentage point. The latest batch of votes came as heavily Democratic Hinds County wraps up counting its absentee and affidavit ballots. The county, which includes…
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Axios ·
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The Daily Signal ·
left: 6 · center: 7 · right: 3. Counts describe displayed outlets, not independent investigations or the accuracy of their reporting.
Source context: Colom's victory makes him the first black person from Mississippi to be elected to the US Senate in more than 140 years.
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Center Left · Axios
Right · The Daily Signal
Center Left · The Guardian
Center · PBS NewsHour
Center Right · Washington Examiner
Left · TPM – Talking Points Memo
Center · CBS News
Right · New York Post
Center Left · Politico
Center Left · NBC News
Center Left · The Washington Post
Center · Bloomberg
6 publishers
Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a stunning Mississippi upset, becoming the first Democrat elected to the state's Senate delegation since 1982, AP projects.Why it matters: Colom's victory marks another extraordinary breakthrough for Democrats in the Deep South, extending the historic blue wave that handed the party control…
Colom takes victory by razor-thin margin in state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982Democrat Scott Colom pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the midterm elections when he defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent Republican senator, to become the first Black senator in Mississippi elected since 1875, after more than a week of vote…
Put a fork in’er. Cindy Hyde-Smith is done and Scott Colom is the next Senator from Mississippi, according to CNN....
Colom's win is a boost to the Democratic Party as it seeks to gain a larger foothold in the South.
Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen.
Mississippi has no provision for automatic vote recounts, so a candidate who wants to contest an outcome must wait until results are in and file a lawsuit.
7 publishers
Democrat Scott Colom has built on his lead in the closely watched Mississippi Senate race, now ahead of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) by nearly 4,500 votes, or about half a percentage point. The latest batch of votes came as heavily Democratic Hinds County wraps up counting its absentee and affidavit ballots. The county, which includes…
Democratic nominee Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.
Democrat Scott Colom defeated GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate race, delivering Democrats an eighth flipped Senate seat after the dramatic race had been up in the air for days.
Democrat Scott Colom has won election to the U.S. Senate in Mississippi, according to a race call by the Associated Press, defeating Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Colom's victory makes him the first black person from Mississippi to be elected to the US Senate in more than 140 years.
Democrats padded their US Senate majority with a surprise win by Scott Colom, a district attorney who ousted Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in a reliably Republican state that President Donald Trump won by more than 22 percentage points in 2024, CNN projected.
Tuesday was the deadline for provisional ballots to be resolved in Mississippi, and the deadline for the receipt of mail-in absentee ballots.
3 publishers
Mississippi has significantly more voters who cast affidavit ballots than the number of votes separating the two Senate candidates in the closely contested U.S. Senate race. As of Monday afternoon, Democrat Scott Colom held a 2,574-vote lead over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the deep-red state, The Associated Press reported. However,…
Democrat Scott Colom unseated Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) in one of the biggest upsets in the 2026 midterm elections. Colom led with 49.2% when the Associated Press called the race at 5:58 p.m. Eastern. Hyde-Smith came in behind the Mississippi Democrat at 48.7%. President Donald Trump won the state in 2024 with 60.9% of the…
Donald Trump won Mississippi by 22.9% in 2024.
