Mississippi district attorney Scott Colom leads Sen. Hyde-Smith in uncalled Senate race
The gist
Mississippi Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 43 votes with about 96% counted.
The uncalled race could make him Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since 1870.
How it unfolded
- Sep 3, 2025Scott Colom announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, two years after she blocked his nomination to a federal court.
- Mar 10, 2026NBC News projected Cindy Hyde-Smith and Scott Colom won their respective primaries, setting up a November face-off.
- Nov 3, 2026The race was too close to call early Wednesday, with Colom leading by less than 1 percentage point — 461,370 to 459,201 — with nearly all ballots counted, per Decision Desk HQ.
Key terms
- district attorney
- Chief prosecutor representing a U.S. state in a local area, usually a county, handling criminal cases against defendants.
- affidavit ballots
- A ballot used to record a vote whose voter eligibility must be resolved before it counts.
- primaries
- An election in which voters of a political party choose that party's candidate for an upcoming general election.
Source: Wikipedia