Mississippi elects Scott Colom, its first Black senator since Reconstruction

Overview

Updated 1 hour ago

Scott Colom, a Democratic district attorney, won Mississippi's U.S. Senate seat after a prolonged ballot count, unseating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Mississippi had not elected a Democratic senator since 1982, and had not sent a Black senator to Washington since 1874.

The state has the largest Black share of population in the country. Colom won while raising about $3.6 million to Hyde-Smith's $5.3 million, with little help from national Democrats, in a race forecasters had rated solidly Republican for most of the cycle.

Why it matters

Mississippi, with the largest Black population share of any state, will send a Black Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1874.

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Key Indicators

$3.6M

Colom's campaign fundraising

Total raised shortly before the election, against $5.3 million for Hyde-Smith.

$5.3M

Hyde-Smith's campaign fundraising

Included a significant donation from the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC.

152

Years since Mississippi last elected a Black senator

Blanche Bruce was elected in 1874 and served until 1881.

Years since Mississippi last elected a Democratic senator

John Stennis beat Haley Barbour in 1982.

Years since a Mississippi senator lost a reelection bid

No incumbent had been unseated in the state since 1942.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

People Involved

Scott Colom

Democratic U.S. senator-elect from Mississippi; district attorney

Projected winner; awaiting certification and seating

Cindy Hyde-Smith

Republican U.S. senator from Mississippi

Defeated in her reelection bid, per network projections

Robert Luckett

Director, Margaret Walker Center at Jackson State University

Historian commenting on the result

Organizations Involved

American Israel Public Affairs Committee

Pro-Israel lobbying organization

Donated to Hyde-Smith's campaign

A pro-Israel lobbying group that gave a significant donation to Hyde-Smith during the race.

U.S. Senate

Government Body

Gains a new Mississippi member when the next Congress convenes

The chamber Colom will join, and where Mississippi's Senate delegation has been all-Republican since the 1980s.

Timeline

2023 November 2026

5 events Latest: Yesterday

Tap a bar to jump to that date

November 2026
Networks project Colom the winner
Latest Election result

After a prolonged count, CNN, NBC News and others called the race for Colom over Hyde-Smith.
Yesterday
Final fundraising gap: $5.3 million to $3.6 million
Fundraising

Colom entered the election having raised about $1.7 million less than the incumbent.
November 2026
2025
Colom launches a Senate campaign nobody rates
Campaign

Pundits wrote him off, and forecasters labeled the seat solidly Republican for much of the cycle.
2025
Hyde-Smith opens a fundraising lead
Fundraising

In the campaign's first three months she raised nearly $1.1 million to Colom's roughly $594,000.
2025
2023
Biden taps Colom for a federal judgeship
Appointment

Republicans including Sen. Roger Wicker joined Democrats in supporting the nomination to the Northern District of Mississippi.
2023

Scenarios

Colom is certified and sworn in as Mississippi's next senator

Likely Resolves by Jan 31, 2027

Discussed by: CNN, NBC News and other networks that projected the race; no public challenge to the projection has been reported

The counties finish their canvass, the state certifies the result, and Colom takes the oath when the next Congress convenes. This is the default path: the projection has not been contested and the remaining-vote math is described as out of Hyde-Smith's reach.

A recount or legal challenge delays certification

Unlikely Resolves by End of 2026

Discussed by: Election analysts cited by Mississippi-based outlet MS NOW, who framed the race around a key ballot deadline

Hyde-Smith would have needed at least 64 percent of the estimated remaining ballots to catch Colom, according to MS NOW. If her campaign disputes that estimate, a formal recount request or a court filing would push the outcome past the certification calendar and leave the seat in limbo into December.

Another Democrat wins a Southern Senate seat in 2028

Uncertain Resolves by Nov 8, 2028

Discussed by: Democrats who argue the party's future runs through the South, a case the AP reports Colom's win will bolster

Colom's win is cited as evidence that a Black Democrat can win a Deep South state with modest national support. The test is whether the pattern repeats: a second Democratic Senate win in the South in 2028 would turn the argument into a strategy, while a failure would leave Colom as an outlier.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

1870–1881

Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce (1870–1881)

Mississippi sent Hiram Revels to the Senate in 1870 and Blanche Bruce in 1875, the last two Black men elected to the chamber from the state. Revels served a single year; Bruce served until 1881.

Then

Black Mississippians briefly held federal office during Reconstruction.

Now

After Reconstruction, no Black candidate won statewide office in Mississippi again until 2026.

Why this matters now

Colom's win is the first since Bruce's term ended, a gap of 145 years in the Senate seat itself and 152 years since the last election.

1982

John Stennis defeats Haley Barbour (1982)

Eighty-one-year-old Democrat John Stennis won another term by beating 34-year-old Haley Barbour. No Democrat has won a Mississippi Senate seat since.

Then

Stennis held the seat for one more term.

Now

The state's Senate delegation turned Republican and stayed that way for four decades.

Why this matters now

The 'first Democrat since 1982' line marks the length of the drought, though Stennis's party was not the one Colom now leads.

1930s–1960s

Southern party realignment (1930s–1960s)

Black voters began leaving the Republican Party in the 1930s and 1940s as the New Deal was seen as helping working-class and Black Americans. White Southerners did not shift in matching numbers until the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Then

White supremacist Democrats kept power in the South even as the national party changed.

Now

The region became reliably Republican in federal races, and the Democratic label in Mississippi stopped meaning what it meant nationally.

Why this matters now

Historians told Talking Points Memo that Colom's win belongs to the Reconstruction lineage, not to the state's last Democratic senators.