Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Race, Unseating Hyde-Smith

Last updated: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, 6:40 p.m. ET. This is a developing story. We'll update it with official vote totals and reaction from both campaigns.

Mississippi has a Democratic senator-elect for the first time in 44 years.

Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, CBS News and NBC News projected Wednesday afternoon, more than a week after polls closed. NPR called it the closest Senate race in the country.

The last time Mississippi voters sent a Democrat to the Senate was 1982. Colom was born a few weeks later.

Why the Mississippi Senate race took so long

The day after the Nov. 3 election, with about 96% of the vote counted, only a few dozen votes separated the two candidates, CBS News reported. Colom held a razor-thin lead and kept saying he'd win. As the remaining ballots came in over the following days, that lead grew.

Official certified totals hadn't been posted when this story was published. The network reports we reviewed didn't include a concession or statement from Hyde-Smith. We'll add her response when she gives one.

Scott Colom wins Mississippi Senate seat: what it means for the Senate

It's the eighth Republican-held Senate seat Democrats have flipped this cycle. CBS News listed the others as North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas and Maine.

When the new Congress is sworn in come January, Democrats will hold at least 55 seats to the GOP's 44. The one race left is in Alaska, which has been its own saga. Here's what happened when a judge tossed the Justice Department's lawsuit over the two Dan Sullivans on the ballot.

NBC News noted that no Democratic senator in the next Congress will represent a redder state. President Trump carried Mississippi by more than 20 points in 2024. CBS put the margin at 20 points and NBC at 23.

The shake-up isn't limited to the Senate. House Republicans, headed for the minority after losing dozens of seats, just picked Jim Jordan as their next leader.

Who is Scott Colom?

Colom, 43, is a district attorney who calls himself a seventh-generation Mississippian. NBC News reported he will be the state's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.

He and Hyde-Smith have history. She blocked his nomination for a federal judgeship under President Joe Biden. Colom told NBC News he has forgiven her.

His campaign was built on prices and health care. He hit Hyde-Smith for voting for Trump's "big, beautiful bill," which cut Medicaid funding, and for backing the administration's tariffs and the war with Iran. He nicknamed her "Cindy High Prices."

One line stuck. After Hyde-Smith said Mississippians struggling with high beef prices "have so many proteins to choose from," Colom's team cut a video of people answering, "Pick another protein? I'd rather pick another senator." That slogan ended up on T-shirts at his rallies.

"We were never a lost cause. We were betrayed cause," Colom told NBC News before the election, blaming both Hyde-Smith and a national party he said had stopped competing in the state.

How a deep-red state got competitive

Few people saw this coming a year ago. Trump endorsed Hyde-Smith more than a year before the midterms and called her "100% MAGA," according to NBC News, and he campaigned in Mississippi eight days before the vote.

But the race tightened late. National Democrats started spending there for the first time in October, and the Cook Political Report moved it from solid Republican to lean Republican, CBS News reported. Senate Majority PAC spent close to $2.1 million on ads, NBC said, citing AdImpact. The GOP's Senate Leadership Fund answered with a buy of about the same size.

Kamala Harris, Bill Clinton, and Sens. Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock campaigned with Colom. Barack Obama appeared in one of his ads.

NBC News exit polling found most Mississippi voters disapproved of Trump's job performance. Majorities also said his tariffs hurt the economy and that military action in Iran was wrong.

Hyde-Smith, 67, was appointed in 2018 and won a full term in 2020. She was the first woman Mississippi sent to Congress.

What we don't know yet

Final certified vote totals, whether Hyde-Smith will concede or seek a recount, and when Colom will speak publicly about the win are all still open as of Wednesday evening.