Updated 9:50 a.m. ET • Friday, November 6, 2026
Colom ahead by 2,087 in MS Senate race: Latest vote totals show Democrat leading Hyde-Smith 467,233 to 465,146 as of 3:29 a.m. Eastern Friday, according to figures from Decision Desk HQ. [1]
Colom’s net gain in Thursday’s count of votes from seven counties was 136 (Colom: 521, Hyde-Smith: 385), according to the AP-based tally the Mississippi Free Press was keeping track of (separate from Decision Desk HQ’s slightly newer tally above). At that point, the Free Press reported, Colom led by 1,813. [2]
There are still a bunch of votes to count, of course, and the race remains uncalled. Still. Come on, Mississippi. Christmas is coming. [3]
Colom sounded cautiously optimistic when he spoke with CNN Thursday: “You look at the ballots that are left, you know, it’s going in our favor.” [3] Well, as it happens, I’m no longer just looking at what Colom’s team thinks. Now I’ve got some numbers to go on.
Look at what happened in Lafayette County
On Thursday, Lafayette County released its unofficial Senate results including affidavit votes. Of the 207 valid Senate votes cast by affidavit in the county, Colom got 142, Hyde-Smith got 60 and independent Ty Pinkins got five. That’s about 69 percent for Colom and increased his lead over Hyde-Smith by 82 votes. [4]
Meanwhile, Colom’s overall tally in Lafayette County was 49.43 percent to Hyde-Smith’s 48.27 percent. [4] So Lafayette affidavit votes skew heavily Colom compared to votes cast in the county overall. This is relevant because I’m sure some people are trying to guess who’s winning based on which counties are ahead for which candidate.
Lafayette County’s affidavit votes can’t predict what’s going to happen everywhere else, but 142 votes is 142 votes and those votes went through the wringer and got counted. Now that’s a reason to be optimistic aside from staring at the screen and hoping the numbers change.
Hyde-Smith’s lawyers made a demand. Elias’s firm answered.
Thursday, Hyde-Smith’s attorneys sent election officials in all 82 counties a letter demanding that they segregate affidavit ballots and related paperwork from other ballots. This includes affidavit ballots that have been accepted, rejected, cured and those that remain unresolved. The letter claims Hyde-Smith may need the affidavit votes and paperwork as evidence for a ballot-box examination, an election contest or proceedings before the U.S. Senate. [5] It also says Hyde-Smith doesn’t want this to hold up counting legal votes, stop valid votes from being counted or impact ballot secrecy. [5] Important to note that this request includes affidavit ballots that have already been deemed valid and accepted.
Meanwhile, Marc Elias has said his legal team is all-in on Colom’s legal effort and, according to one report, his attorneys were heading to Mississippi as the votes were still being counted. [6] On Wednesday, he said flatly that “Scott Colom is going to be the next Senator from Mississippi” and that he’s spearheading the legal team that will make that happen. [7] On Thursday, attorneys with Elias’ team sent election officials in all 82 Mississippi counties their own letter disputing Hyde-Smith’s team’s ask. Jacquelyn Lopez, the attorney representing Colom’s interests in the letter, said Hyde-Smith’s team hasn’t cited any legal basis for singling out affidavit ballots that have already been deemed valid for segregation and that altering the counting process could impact ballot secrecy and lead to similarly situated voters being treated differently in different counties. [8]
Those are just attorneys’ positions and those letters aren’t court orders, but it’s a fight brewing. Right now, Colom leads. Reviewed affidavit votes in Lafayette broke for Colom. [4] And Colom’s attorneys are objecting to Hyde-Smith’s attorneys asking election officials to keep accepted affidavit ballots separate from other ballots. [5] [8]
This is the kind of election coverage that should get our attention. Your vote doesn’t stop mattering when you walk out of that polling place. Here at XVOA, we follow the vote count. And that means we pay attention to what happens after.
There are still people who need to finish the process
There are still affidavit votes to be counted in counties where Colom leads and in counties where Hyde-Smith leads. As of Thursday, DeSoto County still had about 2,100 affidavit votes left to be reviewed and counted and Hinds County said it’s still counting but didn’t know when it would be done. [2] CNN reported that the secretary of state’s office didn’t have a number for how many provisional votes are still being counted. [3]
If you have friends and family in Mississippi, here’s your opportunity to be helpful. If they voted affidavit because they didn’t have proper photo ID, they have until Tuesday, Nov. 10 to show up with proper ID at the circuit clerk’s office in their county. Absentee ballots that were eligible and postmarked by Election Day also need to be received by the circuit clerk’s office by Nov. 10. Those are the secretary of state’s deadlines. [9]
Offer to drive them. Find out if they know where they need to go. I’d be making those phone calls to my folks in Florida right now. Mississippi voters deserve that attention too while we’re all watching the scoreboard.
If Scott Colom gets certified as Mississippi’s next U.S. senator, he’ll be the first Black person directly elected to the U.S. Senate by Mississippi voters. [10] Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate during Reconstruction but they were elected by the state legislature instead of being popularly elected. [11] Mississippians still have a chance to do something they’ve never done before.
So yeah, I want somebody to call it for Colom. I want those votes counted and I want those voters represented. Mississippi has stolen my attention and I intend to keep it.
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Sources
Decision Desk HQ, Mississippi U.S. Senate election results, tally timestamped November 6, 2026, 3:29 a.m. EST. (votes.decisiondeskhq.com)
Mississippi Free Press, Liveblog of Mississippi’s U.S. Senate election results, November 4–5, 2026. (mississippifreepress.org)
Fredreka Schouten, Annie Grayer and Tierney Sneed, CNN via KESQ, The fight is growing over ballot counting in Mississippi’s tight Senate race, November 6, 2026. (kesq.com)
Lafayette County, Unofficial general election results with affidavit ballots counted, November 5, 2026, page 1. (lafayettems.com)
Counsel for Cindy Hyde-Smith for U.S. Senate, Demand to separate and preserve affidavit ballots, November 5, 2026. (nrsc.org)
David Zimmermann, Washington Examiner, Elias Law Group heads to Mississippi in preparation for legal fight over Senate race, November 4, 2026. (washingtonexaminer.com)
Marc Elias, Statement on representing Scott Colom, Bluesky, November 4, 2026. (bsky.app)
Jacquelyn Lopez, counsel for Scott Colom for Senate, Response to Hyde-Smith’s affidavit-ballot demands, November 5, 2026. (scottcolom.com)
Mississippi Secretary of State, Election Day reminders for the 2026 general election, October 26, 2026. (sos.ms.gov)
Michael Goldberg, Mississippi Today, Who won Mississippi’s midterm Senate race? We may not know for a while, November 4, 2026. (mississippitoday.org)
U.S. Senate Historical Office, Hiram Revels: First African American Senator. (senate.gov)
Damn, wish I lived in Mississippi and wasn't convalescing with a broken foot.
I sent him $100 like Kamala asked us to do. Go man, GO!