• Analysis
'I had the courage to believe in Mississippi': Scott Colom's victory speech after his Senate win
Democrat Scott Colom, whose Mississippi Senate win ended incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith's tenure, told supporters: 'I had the courage to believe in Mississippi.' The Associated Press called the race just over a week after the midterm elections.
A speech about courage
Scott Colom addressed his supporters on the night his Mississippi Senate win became official, and his words framed the result as an act of belief rather than calculation. "All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this," he said in his victory speech.
He went further, tying the victory directly to the state itself:
"I had the courage to believe in Mississippi. I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters."
How the race was decided
The Democrat defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the closely contested Senate race. The Associated Press called the contest just over a week after the midterm elections, once absentee and provisional ballots had been counted.
A first since Reconstruction
The win carries historical weight: Colom becomes the state's first black senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.
Hyde-Smith accepts the result
The incumbent responded to her defeat with a statement accepting the voters' verdict. "While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," Hyde-Smith said.
Colom's victory added to a wave of Democratic gains across the country in this year's midterm elections, secured in a traditionally Republican state through:
- •a grassroots campaign with viral advertising
- •outreach to voters at Trump rallies
- •limited early backing from national Democrats
