Less Than 100 Votes Separate Hyde-Smith and Colom
Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Scott Colom are locked in a dead heat in the Mississippi Senate race, with the margin standing at less than 100 votes as of Wednesday afternoon.
More than 95 percent of the vote is in. The outcome hinges on thousands of provisional ballots that have yet to be processed.
Fifteen Thousand Affidavit Ballots Left to Verify
The path to a final result runs through the roughly 15,000 affidavit ballots that remain uncounted.
Voters typically submit these ballots when they are previously marked as inactive on voter rolls or who didn’t bring their voter ID. Mississippi is the only state with no automatic recount law. According to the Mississippi Clarion Ledger, the election results must be certified by November 13.
Stark Shift in a Solidly Red State
This razor-thin contest marks a stark departure from recent cycles in a state that historically leans heavily Republican.
In her last race, Hyde-Smith won reelection by 10 points. The state voted for President Trump by a 23-point margin in 2024. Colom could become the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.
The closeness of the race follows reports of increased Black voter turnout across the South. According to reporting by Ari Berman, this surge is largely attributed to mobilized frustration over the April Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais. Callais. That ruling effectively dismantled the Voting Rights Act, setting the stage for a string of extreme partisan gerrymanders and other crackdowns on access to voting.
Felony Disenfranchisement Restricts Black Voters in Mississippi
Structural barriers to voting remain a central point of contention in Mississippi. The state is historically one of the most repressive states for Black voters, including policies regarding felony disenfranchisement.
According to The Sentencing Project, felony disenfranchisement laws prevented at least 43,700 Black Mississippians from casting ballots in 2024—a figure representing more than five percent of the state’s Black adult population, which contrasts with the 1.7 percent national average for all adult citizens.
Colom Proposes Minimum Wage Increases and Rural Hospital Protections
Economic concerns have dominated the campaign discourse.
Colom has focused his platform on affordability and labor standards. His proposals include a push to raise the minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009. Colom has advocated for blocking Medicaid funding cuts to preserve rural Mississippi hospitals, while also proposing a moratorium on new data center projects unless those firms commit to funding their own energy needs and employing local Mississippi staff.
The demographic reality of the state provides the backdrop for these policy debates. With Black residents making up approximately 37 percent of the population, Mississippi holds the highest concentration of Black citizens in the nation, and they represent a comparable share of the electorate. The final result will depend on the ability of the election apparatus to process the remaining affidavit ballots.
Earlier coverage: Mississippi Senate Race Too Close to Call Between Hyde-Smith and Colom
