Mississippi has elected its first Black senator since the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War, after Democratic challenger Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the November 3 US midterm elections.
The victory marks a historic breakthrough for African Americans in the southern state and a major upset in a region traditionally dominated by Republicans.
Colom’s win also adds to the Democrats’ gains in the midterm elections, which dealt a significant blow to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
The victory gives Democrats a 55-44 advantage in the 100-member Senate, with the outcome of one remaining race in Alaska yet to be determined.
Democrats have also gained 41 seats in the House of Representatives, giving them a 254-168 advantage, with 13 races yet to be called.
Republicans have consequently lost control of both chambers of Congress, leaving Trump to contend with a Democratic-controlled legislature for the first time in either of his two terms.
The shift gives Democrats greater power to block legislation and investigate the Trump administration.
The Mississippi contest was among the last Senate races to be decided, with the latest media-tabulated results showing Colom ahead by 0.5 percentage points, representing about 4,600 votes.
Addressing supporters at a victory rally, Colom said his campaign had faced difficult moments when donors were reluctant to support his bid and the prospect of victory appeared remote.
“There were times that I couldn’t get donors to answer the phone,” he said. “They did not believe a moment like this was possible. But I kept the faith.”
The 43-year-old district attorney also became the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982.
Colom built his campaign around voters’ concerns over the rising cost of living, gaining attention with an advertisement that criticised Hyde-Smith’s remarks suggesting consumers could choose alternative protein sources instead of paying higher beef prices.
His advertisement featured voters responding: “Pick another protein? I’d rather pick another senator instead.”
In an October interview with Reuters, Colom said Mississippi voters felt betrayed by Trump administration policies, including the war in Iran, which had driven up fuel prices.
His campaign also received a boost from October rallies featuring two other Black Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Hyde-Smith, 67, who was appointed to the Senate in 2018 before winning a special election that year, had consistently led opinion polls in Mississippi, a state Trump won by nearly 23 percentage points in 2024.
Trump also campaigned for her towards the end of the race.
However, Hyde-Smith congratulated Colom and wished him well in a video posted on social media.
The Democratic victory reflects a broader trend of the party making gains in states traditionally dominated by Republicans, including Texas.
Mississippi, which has a majority-white population, became firmly Republican following the political realignment that followed the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Many of the movement’s defining struggles took place in the state, where Black people faced discrimination in voting, employment, education and access to public facilities.
The last Black candidate elected to represent Mississippi in the Senate before Colom was former slave Blanche Bruce, who won a seat in 1874.
