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Democratic nominee Scott Colom widened his lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate election to more than 4,400 votes on Wednesday as ballot counting progressed.
Vote Count and Margins
At the start of the day, Colom held a 2,990-vote advantage over Hyde-Smith. That margin increased slowly until just after 2 p.m. ET, when a fresh batch of counted ballots added 607 votes to his tally, followed shortly by another 621 votes. By 2:30 p.m., Colom’s lead reached 4,404 votes, as reported by the Associated Press.
With an estimated 99% of votes tallied, Colom led Hyde-Smith 49.18% to 48.72%. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins captured 2.1% of the vote.
Colom has progressively built his lead over several days by securing a larger share of provisional affidavit ballots compared to the ballots counted on election night. Affidavit ballots are utilized when questions arise regarding a voter’s eligibility. The AP estimates that fewer than 15,000 ballots remain to be processed.
Demographics and Historical Significance
Colom received a significant boost from newly processed votes in Hinds County, the second-most populous county in Mississippi, which includes the state capital of Jackson. The majority of residents in Hinds County are Black, matching Colom’s background.
A victory for Colom would make him the first Black senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War. During the 2024 presidential election, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump by 46 percentage points in Hinds County. By Wednesday morning, Colom was capturing 80% of the vote in the county, compared to 19% for Hyde-Smith.
Mississippi, which has not sent a Democrat to the US Senate since segregationist John Stennis in 1982, was considered an unlikely pickup opportunity by political analysts prior to the election.
Deadlines and National Context
Tuesday marked the deadline for resolving affidavit ballots, as well as the deadline to receive mail-in absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3. Mississippi and Alaska remain the only two states where the Senate elections have not yet been called.
Nationwide, Democrats have flipped seven Senate seats previously held by Republicans, securing a new majority of at least 54 seats in the 100-member chamber when the new term begins in January. Prior to Election Day, Alaska was seen as a potential deciding factor for whether Republicans could maintain their narrow Senate majority.
In Alaska, Democratic nominee Mary Peltola expanded her lead to 4,250 votes over incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, with 84% of total votes counted, representing a 1.8 percentage point margin. Peltola holds 49% of the total vote. If neither Peltola nor Sullivan secures more than 50% of the vote, the contest will advance to a ranked-choice voting round. In that scenario, two other candidates, Gerald Heikes and another candidate named Dan Sullivan, will be eliminated, and secondary voter choices will be distributed between Peltola and the incumbent.
