Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Race in Historic Upset

Incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) conceded on Wednesday and congratulated Colom. In his victory speech at Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Jackson, Colom said he sometimes “couldn’t get donors to answer the phone,” criticizing the limited support he received from Democratic leaders.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee left Mississippi out of a $40 million investment in battleground states announced in July, then bought $500,000 in ads for Colom in the final days of the race. His campaign focused on affordability, raising wages in line with living costs and reversing GOP cuts to federal healthcare programs.

Colom also gained attention with ads featuring Hyde-Smith’s February remarks about the rising cost of beef. “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from,” she said. One ad answered with a Mississippi resident’s line: “Pick another protein? I’d rather pick another senator instead.” Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s nomination for a federal district judgeship in 2023.

Working Families Party Southeast regional director Britney Whaley called the result a challenge to conventional assumptions about Southern politics, saying it should prompt political leaders to reconsider the map, polling methods and campaign investment. She credited Black leaders, grassroots organizers and Mississippi voters, and argued that campaigns in the South could achieve more with greater resources. NAACP president and CEO Derrick Johnson said voters had made history despite efforts to remove people from voter rolls, intimidate voters and election officials, and create fear around voting.

Colom’s win puts Democrats on course to hold at least 55 Senate seats in January. Alaska’s race remained uncalled, with Democrat Mary Peltola narrowly leading Republican Dan Sullivan.