Mississippi Gotdam: They Called It for Colom

CNN projects that Scott Colom will be the first Black person elected to the U.S. Senate by Mississippi voters.

Nov 11, 2026

BREAKING NEWS | Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Eight days after Election Day, at 4:05 p.m. Mississippi time, CNN’s Decision Desk projected that Democrat Scott Colom, a district attorney from Columbus, would unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. [1] [2] Last week, I asked them to just call it for Colom. CNN obliged.

At the time of CNN’s projection, the Associated Press had a tally of 472,188 votes for Colom and 467,603 for Hyde-Smith, a lead of 4,585 votes for Colom with an estimated 99% of the vote counted. [3] As of 4:19 p.m. Mississippi time, AP had yet to call the race, WLBT reported. [4] Mississippi’s counties have until Friday, November 13, to certify their election results. [5]

Colom’s projected victory would give Democrats 55 seats in the incoming U.S. Senate. [3]

Colom would be the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi since 1982. [2]

In a memo released Wednesday, Colom’s campaign put his lead at 5,568 votes after adding results from 24 counties that had not yet been included in the AP tally. According to the memo, even if every remaining ballot were accepted, Hyde-Smith would need to win nearly nine in 10 of those votes to overcome his lead. [6]

The day before, at the Capitol, Hyde-Smith told reporters that she felt good about her chances of winning the seat. [2]

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The ballots we waited for

Colom’s lead grew Wednesday when election officials in Hinds County (Jackson’s home county) counted the 817 affidavit ballots they had accepted. An affidavit ballot lets someone vote provisionally while officials check their eligibility. Colom received 703 of those votes and Hyde-Smith received 96. That added 607 votes to Colom’s lead. [7]

In all, 2,426 people cast affidavit ballots in Hinds County. Election officials accepted 817 and rejected 1,609. [7] The Hinds County Election Commission told WLBT that reasons for rejection included voters casting their ballots in the wrong precinct, being registered in another county and not being registered to vote at all. [8] I hope that election officials make clear to each person whose ballot they rejected why they rejected it.

Also counted Wednesday were Hinds County’s last mail-in absentee ballots, which returned 61 more votes for Colom and three for Hyde-Smith. [7]

On Sunday, Mississippi NAACP Executive Director Charles Taylor told election workers that his organization would have their backs. Taylor said Mississippi NAACP members and volunteers knocked on 150,000 doors this election cycle. In a written statement Monday, the NAACP said its Mississippi organization had registered more than 17,000 voters and that members and volunteers would monitor the count in all 82 counties through certification. [5]

Who gets to choose a senator

In 1870, the Mississippi Legislature elected Hiram Revels, the first Black person to serve in the U.S. Senate. Revels took the oath on February 25, 1870. His term ended on March 3, 1871, just over a year later. [9] In 1874, the legislature elected another Black senator, Blanche K. Bruce, who served from 1875 to 1881. [10] Colom would be the first Black U.S. senator elected by Mississippi voters themselves. [1] [9] [10]

Three years ago, Hyde-Smith had a say in whether Colom would get a hearing for the federal judgeship in northern Mississippi that President Joe Biden had nominated him for. Hyde-Smith withheld her “blue slip” from the Senate Judiciary Committee. (Mississippi’s other U.S. senator, Roger Wicker, returned his.) Under the committee’s practice at the time, Colom never got his confirmation hearing. [2] [11] Once sworn in alongside Wicker, Colom will have a vote on whether to confirm judicial nominees who reach the Senate floor. [12]