Democrat Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Race in Stunning Defeat for GOP

Of all the striking Democratic upsets in the 2026 midterm elections—a statewide sweep in Texas, the first U.S. Senate victory for Kansas in nearly a century, and an underdog triumph in South Carolina—the most surprising outcome came in Mississippi.

The race to send a Democrat to the U.S. Senate from the ruby-red state of Mississippi was called for Democrat Scott Colom on Wednesday, just over a week after the election. Colom, a district attorney, defeated Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

Colom led Hyde-Smith by roughly 2,000 votes the day after the election and gradually increased the margin before the Associated Press called the race at 5:58 p.m. ET.

“I think that anybody who can look at the math should be able to know where this is going,” Colom told reporters the morning after the election. “It’s going to: Scott Colom is the next United States senator. I’m confident in that.”

He was right, and the victory was especially sweet. In 2023, Colom was then a state prosecutor. He had been nominated by President Joe Biden to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench, but that nomination was blocked by a single senator from his home state: Hyde-Smith.

Breaking with her Republican colleague, Sen. Roger Wicker, who backed Colom’s selection, Hyde-Smith cited Colom’s “opposition to legislation to protect female athletes” — apparently a reference to his decision to sign an open letter condemning the criminalization of gender-affirming care — as well as a political donation he made four years earlier from a PAC that had received funding from George Soros.

Three years ago, Colom wrote a letter asking Hyde-Smith to reconsider her decision. She refused. Had Hyde-Smith not blocked his nomination, Colom told The New York Times in May, “It is fair to say that I would not have resigned from the federal bench to run for Senate.”

Colom made Hyde-Smith’s tone-deaf response to the rising cost of living a centerpiece of his insurgent bid to replace her. One viral ad produced by the Colom campaign showcased Hyde-Smith’s comment in response to a question about beef prices: “You have so many proteins to choose from.” Rather than pick another protein, the spot urged voters to “Pick another senator instead.” It resonated, as Mississippians appeared poised to do exactly that.

Up until the point in late October when President Donald Trump flew to Mississippi to rally his supporters behind Hyde-Smith’s reelection effort, few political observers expected the race to be close. Only three polls were conducted of the matchup, compared with dozens of surveys in higher-profile contests in Michigan and Texas. But in the waning days of the campaign, as it became clear that Colom was mounting an unexpectedly strong challenge, former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Kamala Harris both traveled to Mississippi to boost Democratic support for his bid.

Colom’s win marked the first time a Democrat had represented Mississippi in the Senate since the prominent segregationist John C. Stennis retired in the 1980s.

Colom’s victory was even more remarkable considering that Ty Pinkins, the Democratic candidate for Senate in 2024, chose to run as an independent in the general election that fall, siphoning off nearly 20,000 votes.

In spite of those challenges—and an emergency infusion of more than a million dollars from the GOP’s Senate Leadership Fund—Colom was victorious.

Hyde-Smith herself may have been more surprised than anyone by the outcome. Speaking at an election night party on Tuesday, she was already celebrating and boasted to supporters, “I blocked Scott Colom from being a federal judge and you blocked him from being a U.S. senator.”

Asked the next morning to respond to Hyde-Smith’s premature declaration, Colom called on a classic Southern expression: “Bless her heart,” he said.

Source link