After a nail-biting delay following Election Day, Democrat Scott Colom has been announced as the winner of the Mississippi U.S. Senate race, a historic victory that was confirmed Wednesday night.
Colom’s win marks a significant milestone, as he becomes the first Democrat to serve as a Mississippi senator since 1989, and breaks even more ground as the first Black senator from the state since 1881. This victory holds particular resonance in Mississippi, a state with a complex racial history, highlighted by the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, a tragic event that fueled the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. For more on Emmett Till’s impact, see this article.
During his victory celebration at Tougaloo College, Colom stated, “All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this. I had the courage to believe in Mississippi. I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters.”
Colom’s opponent, Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, has faced allegations of racism throughout her political career, including a proposal in 2001 to rename a highway after Confederate President Jefferson Davis and a controversial remark in 2018 about attending a “public hanging.” These issues have been well-documented, including in this article and this report.
The election was closely contested, with Colom leading Hyde-Smith by fewer than 6,000 votes as of Thursday morning. Hyde-Smith’s loss makes her the first Mississippi senator to be unseated since Wall Doxey in 1942.
Colom, a lawyer by profession, has served as the district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Judicial District since 2016. Notably, he played a key role in the 2021 exoneration of Eddie Lee Howard, a Black man wrongfully imprisoned on death row for over two decades. Details of this case can be found here.
In 2022, President Joe Biden nominated Colom for a judgeship in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. Although endorsed by Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, the nomination was ultimately blocked by Hyde-Smith, who argued that Colom was too liberal. More information on this can be read here.
Colom’s campaign prioritized economic issues, emphasizing affordability and cost of living, and advocating for policies such as increasing the minimum wage and withdrawing from the conflict in Iran.
With Colom’s victory, Democrats are set to control at least 55 Senate seats in the upcoming term, while votes in Alaska’s Senate race are still being counted.
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