Democrat Colom narrowly leads in tight Mississippi Senate race

A United States Senate race in Mississippi has become unexpectedly tight. According to the BBC, Democrat Colom held a lead of only a few dozen votes over Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith as of Wednesday morning. Counting is still under way, so the final outcome has not been confirmed.

The national party recently put extra money into the contest, seeing an unforeseen chance to flip a seat held by Republicans. The wider election also gave Democrats both houses of Congress. The BBC reported wins in states such as South Carolina, Texas and Kansas, none of which had sent a Democratic senator to Washington in decades.

Vote count and timing

Hyde-Smith was ahead early, when about 30% of votes had been counted. As more ballots came in, Colom gradually pulled into a small advantage. Each new update has shifted the picture, which is why the outcome remains uncertain.

Automatic recounts are not part of Mississippi law for narrow contests, and candidates cannot demand one. Mail ballots still count when the postmark falls on or before polling day and the envelope reaches officials no more than five working days afterward.

Political scientist Julie Wronski teaches at the University of Mississippi, where she holds the rank of associate professor. She expects the outcome will probably be declared no earlier than 10 November. Because the gap is so slim, she said, officials must process every ballot received in any form before the result is clear.

Democrats and the South

Democrats have struggled in Mississippi in recent election cycles. Colom told the Washington Post in October that large Republican margins had pushed the party to put its money elsewhere. He said national Democrats seemed to have stopped paying attention to the state.

In 2020, the party backed Mike Espy, a former US secretary of agriculture, who lost to Hyde-Smith by a wide margin. Colom argued that a party claiming to stand up for workers cannot ignore rural communities in Mississippi that are under strain.

Campaign message and turnout

Colom, a district attorney, ran on his religious beliefs and promised to tackle money worries facing voters. He also criticised policies tied to President Donald Trump, citing the conflict with Iran and higher living expenses across the country. Trump campaigned alongside Hyde-Smith last month.

Hyde-Smith was appointed to her seat in 2018 to fill a vacancy. Wronski said the senator ran a fairly subdued effort that counted on the state’s dependably conservative electorate. She also pointed to how rarely Hyde-Smith appeared in public during the race.

Mississippi has the largest share of African American residents of any US state, at nearly 40%. That group leans strongly toward Democrats, and reports suggest many turned out in high numbers. Charles Taylor, head of the NAACP’s Mississippi branch, told the BBC that lines were long for both absentee and in-person voting. He predicted the final data would show Black voters came out in force.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• BBC News: Democrat leads by dozens of votes in surprisingly tight Mississippi Senate race

This article was written with the help of AI from reports by the outlets listed above. See our Editorial Policy. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.