Historic in Mississippi: Scott Colom, the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction

Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi and will make history as the state’s first Black senator since the Reconstruction era, after the Civil War.

The Associated Press called the race for Colom on Wednesday at 5:58 p.m., after eight days of counting. With more than 95% of the votes counted, Colom had 49.2% to Hyde-Smith’s 48.7%, a lead of about 4,669 votes. Hyde-Smith publicly conceded defeat.

Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, is the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Mississippi since John Stennis in 1982. The state’s last Black senator was Blanche Bruce, a man born into slavery who was elected in 1874. Colom is also the first Black person elected by popular vote to the Senate from Mississippi.

In his victory speech at Tougaloo College, in Jackson, Colom honored Mississippi’s Black roots and named Hiram Revels, the country’s first Black senator, and civil rights icons Fannie Lou Hamer and Medgar Evers.

The win is the eighth seat Democrats have flipped from Republicans in these midterm elections and gives them a 55-to-44 Senate majority, with the Alaska race still to be called. The result was a surprise: Trump won Mississippi by nearly 23 points in 2024, and forecasters had rated the race as likely Republican.

Photo: CNN

Source: CNN