Mississippi Senate race heads to extended count with Colom narrowly ahead
Seven Lights
Mississippi’s Senate race remained undecided Friday, with Democrat Scott Colom holding a lead of roughly 1,800 votes over the Republican incumbent, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, and thousands of mail and provisional ballots still to be counted.
With about 96 per cent of the vote reported, the gap had narrowed to a few dozen votes on Wednesday morning before widening as more mail ballots were processed. Mr. Colom, a district attorney, has mounted a formidable challenge in a state President Trump carried by 20 points in 2024; Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982.
Several thousand ballots remain. Secretary of State Michael Watson said Wednesday there are approximately 3,600 outstanding mail ballots and an unknown number of affidavit ballots, the state’s term for provisional ballots cast by voters whose eligibility must still be confirmed. Absentee ballots are counted if received within five business days of the election; affidavit ballots must be processed within the counties’ 10-day certification window, which closes Nov. 13. Mississippi permits no recounts, so the winner will be decided by plurality once certification completes.
Both campaigns are preparing for a fight over the remaining votes. The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent letters to county clerks and election commissioners asking that affidavit ballots be separated and preserved, and the Hyde-Smith campaign filed a request to the same effect. The Colom campaign called the move a “desperate stunt” and asked the state’s 82 counties to follow existing procedures. Senator Hyde-Smith, 67, who has held the seat since 2018, said she still expects to win.
Democrats have poured resources into the state. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Elias Law Group have lawyers monitoring the count, and Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, who won her first race through a recount, has been on the ground. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said the trend line favored Mr. Colom: “Every time we have votes coming in in Mississippi you see Scott Colom getting more and more votes.”
The outcome will not decide control of the Senate, which Democrats have already secured. It would hand them a seat in a state they have not carried for a Senate seat in more than four decades. Counties certify by Nov. 13; a legal fight over affidavit ballots could follow.