District Attorney and Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom speaks during a press conference at the Hinds County Sheriff’s Office on November 10, 2026 in Jackson, Mississippi.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Democratic candidate Scott Colom won the Mississippi Senate race over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Colom, a local district attorney, will be the first black senator from Mississippi since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.
His projected victory, which was not considered unlikely by national analysts by Election Day, is the latest in a series of surprising victories by Democrats this midterm cycle.
Hyde-Smith called Colom late Wednesday afternoon to ask for concessions, two sources close to Colom’s campaign said.
“While this is not the result we worked for or hoped for, we respect the decision of the voters of Mississippi,” Hyde-Smith said in a video posted to X.
“I would like to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the great responsibility of representing our great state,” Hyde-Smith said.
Democrats will take at least eight seats from Republicans, giving them a majority of at least 55 seats in the Senate.
Alaska is the only state that holds Senate elections. In the state, the Democratic candidate, former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, has a narrow lead over incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan.
“Blue Mississippi is here,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.N.Y.) said in a post on X.
“Only Scott Colom could have done this. I knew it from the moment I met him,” Schumer wrote.
In addition to the Senate, Democrats won enough seats to take a majority in the House of Representatives when the next Congress begins in January.
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