Democrat Scott Colom has won election to the US Senate from Mississippi, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 midterm elections. The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday 11 November, and CNN and NBC News projected Colom as the winner later that evening, after more than a week of counting absentee and affidavit ballots from the 3 November election.

Colom, 43, a district attorney and seventh-generation Mississippian, will become the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction and the first Democrat the state has sent to the Senate since 1982. The last Black senator from the state, Blanche K. Bruce, was born into slavery and left office in 1881. The last Democrat to win the seat was John Stennis, in 1982.

A lead of more than 4,500 votes

Colom held a narrow lead for days as election workers counted outstanding ballots across the state, and his advantage grew to more than 4,500 votes, about half a percentage point, as the count continued on Wednesday. Hyde-Smith had been favoured to win, according to the Cook Political Report, in a state that President Donald Trump won by more than 23 points in 2024.

Hyde-Smith conceded on Wednesday evening in a video posted to social media. “While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” she said. “I congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.” Her campaign said she had also telephoned Colom to concede. Colom declared victory at Tougaloo College in Jackson, the historically Black college, where he opened his victory speech by honouring Mississippi’s Black roots, naming Hiram Revels, the country’s first Black US senator, and civil rights figures Fannie Lou Hamer and Medgar Evers.

Eighth Democratic flip of the midterms

The Mississippi result is the eighth Senate seat Democrats have flipped from Republicans in this year’s midterm elections, giving them a minimum 55-seat majority in the new Senate, with the race in Alaska still undecided. Mississippi has the highest share of Black voters of any state, at close to 40 percent, but had not elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than 40 years.

Colom, a Columbus native and Millsaps College graduate, is the district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th judicial district, a post he won by ousting a long-time incumbent. He campaigned on the Democrats’ core midterm message of improving the cost of living and health care for Mississippi residents, and drew support from national figures including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who campaigned for him in the state.

The race carried a personal edge. Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s nomination as a federal judge in 2023 by withholding a document known as a “blue slip”, which is needed to advance judicial nominees through the Senate Judiciary Committee, citing concerns about his record, including his position on transgender rights.

Final certified totals are not expected until Friday at 5 p.m., according to Mississippi Secretary of State officials, but a 50-percent-plus-one majority is not needed in a federal race in Mississippi and the state has no recount process, so the result is settled. Colom will be one of nearly a dozen new Democratic senators taking office in January.

Sources: USA Today and CNN.