Mississippi Senate race uncalled as Democrat Scott Colom narrowly leads Hyde-Smith
Colom leads the Republican incumbent by 1,813 votes with more than 95% counted, but a final result may not come until next week.
At a glance
- Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,813 votes with over 95% counted in Mississippi's uncalled Senate race.
- A final result may not come until next week; Mississippi has no automatic recount provision and provisional ballots remain.
- If Colom wins, he would be Mississippi's first Black senator since Reconstruction; Hyde-Smith says she will win a six-year term.
Mississippi's U.S. Senate election remained uncalled as of Thursday evening, with Democratic nominee Scott Colom holding a razor-thin lead over Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982.
Colom had 49.04% of counted ballots to Hyde-Smith's 48.85%, with an estimated more than 95% of votes in, according to the Associated Press. His lead stood at 1,813 votes out of 951,744 counted as of 6:17 p.m. ET. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins had 20,007 votes, about 2.1% of the total.
A final result may not be available until next week, because more ballots can still arrive and be counted. Mississippi's election procedures do not include an automatic recount provision.
"Absolutely, I didn't think it would be this close," said Brian Anderson, a political science professor at the Mississippi University for Women in Columbus. Before the election, he said, he expected Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, might lose by 3 or 4 percentage points — which would have been a solid showing in a deep-red state. Now, Anderson said, "I'm much more surprised" that Colom has a chance to win.
If Colom defeats Hyde-Smith, 67, he would be the first Black senator from Mississippi since the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era.
Hyde-Smith's campaign struck a confident tone in a post on her X account Thursday afternoon: "Cindy Hyde-Smith is going to represent Mississippi in the United States Senate for the next six years." The post said thousands of votes remain to be counted in dozens of Republican counties, and that election officials should be given time to count outstanding absentee ballots. It added, "We expect Democratic lawyers to pull out every stop, and we are prepared."
The Republican National Committee sent a text message blast to subscribers asking for $25 donations, citing the close race and saying Hyde-Smith needed support for monitoring ballot reviews. "Mississippi is the firewall, and this race is our line in the sand," the message said. Neither candidate's campaign immediately responded to requests for comment from CNBC.
Ballot rules and outstanding votes
Colom's path could partly rest on a Supreme Court ruling written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, whom President Donald Trump appointed. In June, the court's 5-4 majority upheld a Mississippi law allowing mail-in absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they are received within five business days. An estimated 10,000 to 15,000 provisional ballots also require verification of eligibility. A Republican National Committee lawyer had argued in a brief that federal law barred counting votes received after Election Day.
Hyde-Smith was appointed to the seat in 2018 after Thad Cochran's resignation, won a special election that year and a full term in 2020. In 2023 she blocked Colom's nomination by then-President Joe Biden to be a federal judge for the Northern District of Mississippi; Colom had the support of Mississippi's other Republican senator, Roger Wicker, and two former GOP governors.
Anderson said Hyde-Smith ran a "low-visibility campaign" and refused to debate Colom several times, focusing on voters' "values" while Colom spoke to their interests, including affordability, the Iran war and corruption.
Source: CNBC.
Questions and answers
- Who is leading the Mississippi Senate election?
- The race is uncalled. Democrat Scott Colom led Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 49.04% to 48.85%, with more than 95% of votes counted, according to the Associated Press.
- How close is the Mississippi Senate race?
- Colom's lead was 1,813 votes out of 951,744 ballots counted as of 6:17 p.m. ET Thursday, the AP said. A final result may not be available until next week.
- Could there be a recount in Mississippi?
- Mississippi's election procedures do not include an automatic recount provision. Outstanding absentee ballots and an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 provisional ballots still need to be counted.
