Democrat Scott Colom wins Mississippi Senate seat, networks project

Democrat Scott Colom has won the US Senate race in Mississippi, according to projections by US networks on Wednesday. CNN, NBC and CBS called the race eight days after election night, following a prolonged ballot count.

With about 99 per cent of the vote counted, Colom had 49.2 per cent and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith had 48.7 per cent. The margin was 4,585 votes. Colom is a 43-year-old district attorney. Hyde-Smith, 67, has held the seat since 2018.

Colom becomes the first Black senator elected from Mississippi in more than 140 years and the first since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era, France 24 reported. Hiram Revels, the first Black senator in the United States, was from Mississippi and served in that period. He will also be the state's first Democratic senator in nearly 40 years.

France 24 noted that Mississippi has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations, even though it has the largest share of Black residents of any US state.

Hyde-Smith conceded in a video posted on X. She said: "While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters." Colom said: "Mississippi, our prayers have often changed the course of history."

Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, praised Colom on X. "Scott Colom is the only person who could've gotten this done. I knew it from the moment I met him," he said.

Democrats will hold 55 seats in the 100-member Senate and Republicans 44, with one race, in Alaska, yet to be called. Democrats flipped eight Republican-held seats, including Mississippi, with wins in South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Maine. They also won back the House of Representatives. Euronews reported that voters' anger over President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policy, the war in Iran and the rising cost of living reportedly drove the Democratic wave.