BREAKING NEWS | Developing · Wednesday, November 4, 2026 · Reporting cutoff 2:05 p.m. ET
I’m hearing too damn little about Mississippi. I grew up in Florida and I wanted Angie Nixon to be their next U.S. senator. Watching Ashley Moody win that race took some of the joy out of a night when Democrats won back both chambers of Congress. [1][2]
Scott Colom just put some of it back. Three years ago, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith kept this Black district attorney off the federal bench. At 12:30 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, he was 43 votes ahead of her in the race for her seat. Imagine having to clean out your Senate office for the man whose nomination you blocked. [3][4]
The unofficial returns are showing 462,821 votes for Colom, 462,778 for Hyde-Smith and 19,935 for an independent, Ty Pinkins, with about 96% of the vote counted. The Associated Press had yet to call the race, and the winner could finish below 50% because this election has no runoff. Even a margin of one vote wouldn’t trigger an automatic recount in Mississippi. A candidate can ask a court to order one. [2][5][6]
The blue slip she kept
Colom knows something about taking on an incumbent. He won his district attorney’s race in 2015 against a man who’d held the job for nearly 30 years. When President Joe Biden nominated him for a federal judgeship in northern Mississippi, the Senate Judiciary Committee looked to both home-state senators for their sign-off, known as a blue slip. Republican Roger Wicker returned his. Hyde-Smith called Colom “smart and well liked in his district,” then withheld the slip he needed for his nomination to go forward. [3]
On Wednesday, Colom talked about lowering costs and keeping Mississippi hospitals open. When a reporter asked about Hyde-Smith’s election-night assurance that she’d keep her seat, he had three words for her. “Bless her heart.” Both campaigns said Wednesday they expected to win. [5][6][7]
Most forecasters had rated Mississippi safe for Republicans. The Mississippi Independent traced Colom’s overnight gains to late returns from Hinds County and majority-Black counties in the Delta and southwest Mississippi. Colom edged ahead shortly after Holmes County, the last county to report any results, posted its first numbers. He was also leading in DeSoto County, which Donald Trump carried by 24 points two years ago. Mississippi Today reported that Hinds still had ballots to count Wednesday, as did Gulf Coast counties where Hyde-Smith had run stronger. [7][8]
The Evers name on the ballot
Nina Simone put the curse word after Mississippi. Mine came out first, in surprise. She wrote Mississippi Goddam in 1963 after the murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church, where four Black girls were killed. [9]
Fifteen years later, Medgar’s older brother Charles Evers ran for the very Senate seat Scott Colom wants. He ran as an independent and 133,646 Mississippians voted for him. Republican Thad Cochran won. When Cochran resigned in 2018, Hyde-Smith succeeded him. If you voted for Charles Evers then and Scott Colom on Tuesday, I’d love to hear from you. [10][11][12]
During Reconstruction, Mississippi’s state legislature elected Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce to the U.S. Senate. If Colom wins, he will be the first Black U.S. senator elected directly by Mississippi voters. [7][12] Mississippi’s last elected Democratic U.S. senator, John Stennis, voted against the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and won reelection in 1982. [7][13]
The next trip to the circuit clerk
The state Democratic Party’s emergency complaint in DeSoto County alleges that some polling places opened late, voters faced long lines and some precincts ran short of ballots. At Minor Memorial United Methodist Church, a person waiting in line fainted and was taken to the hospital, according to the complaint filed Tuesday. The party asked the judge to make sure people still in line at 7 p.m. could cast a ballot and to extend voting hours at the affected precincts. [14]
A reminder for folks in Mississippi. If you cast an affidavit ballot because you didn’t have your photo ID, you have until Tuesday, Nov. 10, to show acceptable photo ID at your county circuit clerk’s office. Mailed absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day must also reach the circuit clerk by Nov. 10 to count. [15] The RNC challenged that window, and the Supreme Court upheld it in June. [16]
If any of my folks in Florida had voted with affidavit ballots, I’d be calling them to make sure they had a way to get to the circuit clerk’s office. If you’ve got Mississippi friends and family, maybe that’s a phone call you can make today.
I wanted a win in Florida. But I’m taking Mississippi’s show of solidarity as a sign of things to come, and I’m happy to wait it out with Mississippi while we figure out just how solidarity is measured.
Sources
CBS News Miami, Angie Nixon concedes the Florida Senate race to Ashley Moody, November 3.
Associated Press, Which Senate and governor’s races remain uncalled, November 4. Congressional control and the Mississippi recount process.
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith’s office, Her statement on withholding Colom’s blue slip, April 4, 2023.
The Guardian, Mississippi’s Senate margin at 12:30 p.m. ET, November 4.
WDAM, Scott Colom’s Wednesday news conference and the vote count, November 4.
WLOX, Colom on the count, Ty Pinkins’s total and why there is no runoff, November 4.
Michael Goldberg, Mississippi Today, Who won Mississippi’s Senate race? We may not know for a while, November 4.
Derrion Arrington, The Mississippi Independent, Where the overnight votes came from, November 4.
Carnegie Hall, The Civil Rights Movement at Carnegie Hall, including Simone’s 1964 performance.
Mississippi Encyclopedia, Charles Evers and his 1978 Senate campaign.
Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, Official statistics of the 1978 congressional election, Mississippi returns on printed page 20.
U.S. Senate Historical Office, Mississippi’s senators, terms and succession by seat.
Mississippi Encyclopedia, John C. Stennis and his civil rights voting record.
DeSoto County Circuit Court, Mississippi Democratic Party’s November 3 emergency complaint, case CI2026-691.
Mississippi Secretary of State, November 2026 election instructions and November 10 ballot deadlines.
U.S. Supreme Court, Watson v. Republican National Committee, June 29, 2026.
It’s pretty obvious at this point some of the red hats didn’t show up and maybe even some of them even crossed over to the D side oh and a lot of pissed of Dis who normally don’t show up for mid terms showed up this time. Mid terms were persistent low turnouts until this one.
Great column! Thank you for the history lesson 😃💙 I'm hopeful about Mississippi for the first time in my life, and it's a WONDERFUL feeling! No disrespect meant. The Blue Tsunami is happening! 👏🏼🤩🌊