Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by just over 2,000 votes as of midday Friday, keeping Mississippi's Senate race unsettled in a state that has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1982.
The gap has been razor-thin from the start. Early Wednesday, with about 96% of the vote counted, only a few dozen votes divided the two, a remarkable result in a state President Trump carried by 20 points in 2024.
Secretary of State Michael Watson said Friday that roughly 3,300 mail ballots are still outstanding. Election workers are also handling an unknown number of affidavit, or provisional, ballots from voters whose eligibility has yet to be confirmed.
Mail ballots count if they arrive within five business days. Affidavit ballots must be resolved within the 10-day window counties have to certify results, which closes Nov. 13. Mississippi permits no recounts, so the candidate with a plurality wins.
Lawyers on both sides
Both parties have mobilized for the final tally. The National Republican Senatorial Committee and Hyde-Smith's campaign asked every county to set aside and preserve all affidavit ballots, a move Colom's campaign dismissed as a desperate stunt.
Colom's lawyers answered with a letter to all 82 counties urging them to follow election procedures. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has sent lawyers and resources into the state to monitor the count.
Hyde-Smith has predicted on X that she will hold the seat. At a Thursday news conference, state Republican Party Chair Mike Hurst said the contest is far from over and that the party has attorneys and observers posted across Mississippi.
We believe thousands of votes remain to be counted from dozens of Republican counties, and we are confident those votes will reinforce her path to victory.
Cindy Hyde-Smith, Republican senator from Mississippi
Colom, greeting volunteers in Jackson on Thursday, told reporters he believed the state had chosen a new direction. Hours after the polls closed, he told supporters he was carrying counties where few expected him to compete.
From judicial nominee to challenger
The seat will not decide Senate control: Democrats have already won enough races to take the chamber next year, and a Colom victory would enlarge that majority. Alaska's race between Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola also remains uncalled.
Colom, 43, is a district attorney and seventh-generation Mississippian who ran on cost of living and health care. Hyde-Smith, 67, has served in the Senate since 2018. Democrats started putting money into the race only in recent weeks, though an upset still looked improbable going into Election Day.
The two have a history. Colom was President Joe Biden's pick for a district court seat in northern Mississippi, but in April 2023 Hyde-Smith withheld her support, pointing to his views on transgender issues and other concerns.
The state's other Republican senator, Roger Wicker, backed Colom. Under the Senate's blue slip custom, though, the Judiciary Committee typically will not advance a district court nominee without sign-off from both home-state senators, which blocked his confirmation.
Colom entered the Senate race about two and a half years later. He has said the lost judgeship is not what drives his campaign and that he forgives Hyde-Smith.
