• Analysis
Mississippi Senate race 2026: Scott Colom leads Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes as Republican blame game begins
Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes with almost 96% of the vote counted in the Mississippi Senate race 2026, nearly 24 hours after Democrats swept the US Congress in the midterm elections.
Where the Mississippi count stands
The count in the Mississippi Senate race 2026 was still running almost a full day after Democrats took both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. Scott Colom, the Democratic challenger, held a lead of 1,138 votes over the Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, with almost 96% of the vote counted.
The margin sits at the centre of one of two Senate seats still in play nearly 24 hours after the polls closed. The other is in Alaska, where counting is expected to continue into Thursday.
The direction of the count so far favours the Democrat:
- •In the last hours before the tally paused, votes for Colom were outpacing those for Hyde-Smith.
- •No new batches of votes have been reported for several hours.
Why a Colom win would be historic
A Colom victory would break two long droughts in Mississippi at once. Democrats have not won a US Senate seat in the state since 1982, and it has been even longer - not since 1875 - since Mississippi elected a Black person to that office. Colom would be taking a seat in a state Donald Trump carried by 22 points in 2024.
The closeness of the race also raises a procedural question. Mississippi has no law on the books for initiating a recount, although a margin this narrow would automatically trigger one in some states.
Colom's own record marks him out within the state. He is a seventh-generation Mississippian whose father was a Republican who campaigned for Ronald Reagan and was friends with Thad Cochran. In 2015 he unseated a nearly 30-year incumbent to become the first Black district attorney for the 16th circuit, where he had a 94% success rate for convictions.
Republicans trade blame
Within the party, competing explanations for the midterm defeat have surfaced. Donald Trump claimed Republicans fared poorly because he was not on the ballot - after repeatedly urging voters to pretend he was on the ballot.
JD Vance pointed elsewhere, to Trump's ongoing war in Iran as the "obvious" culprit for the loss. That war has put Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, in a exposed position: his role leading the unpopular conflict could see him take the fall, despite Trump publicly backing him. Republicans including Trump foe Thomas Massie have criticised the defence secretary.
Ron DeSantis framed the scale of the defeat in starkest terms, saying the "close to an extinction-level event for Republicans" was caused in part by his party failing to target their ad spending on issues that motivate voters.
The midterm exit polls 2026 gave a different read on voter motivation. Associated Press exit polls showed voters said the cost of living and government corruption were their two top issues.
"close to an extinction-level event for Republicans"
How the newspapers saw the night
The sweep's scale showed up on front pages across the country, each celebrating Democratic wins in states the party rarely carries.
- •The Chicago Sun Times captured newly elected Senator Juliana Stratton celebrating her party's victory under the headline "Dem-olition".
- •The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called Keisha Lance Bottoms' win as governor "historic", noting the governor-elect has shattered "racial and gender glass ceilings" on a day the US elected "four Black governors".
- •The Dallas Morning News front page, "Wave of change", put Senator-elect James Talarico and Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa on page one after a night that saw the Democrats sweep to victory in deep red Texas.
- •La Opinión's front page, above a picture of a battered Maga hat, read simply "National punishment", reflecting Hispanic voters swinging away from Trump.
- •The New York Post's late edition went with "Blue Tsunami", calling the result a "historic romp for Democrats".
- •The Guardian's Thursday headline was "Trumped", reporting the president's party stripped of control of Congress and a country waking up to a "radically altered political landscape".
- •The Tehran Times, closely aligned with Iran's government, headlined "US hegemony crumbling; Iran will never surrender" and quoted officials linking the Republican defeat to the war.
Counting continues. Alaska's tally is expected to run into Thursday, and no new Mississippi vote batches have been reported for several hours.
