Democrat Colom wins Mississippi Senate seat, becomes state's first Black senator since 1874

The Mississippi victory gives the Democrats a 55-44 advantage in the 100-member Senate, with the winner in one Senate race from last ​week's election — in Alaska — yet to be determined. The Democrats have also gained 41 seats in the House of Representatives so ⁠far, holding an advantage of 254 to 168 with 13 races yet to be called.

Republicans lost control of both chambers, leaving Trump facing a Democratic-controlled Congress ​for the first time in either of his two terms and presenting the opposition party with a chance to block highly partisan legislation and investigate Trump's administration. The ​Mississippi Senate race was one of the final races to be called after the elections.

The latest media-tabulated results showed Colom ahead by 0.5 percentage point, or some 4,600 votes. Addressing a gathering of supporters who celebrated his victory with "Senator-Elect Colom" signs, Colom said there were times his long-shot campaign felt defeated but "I had to have faith.

""There were times that I couldn't get ​donors to answer the phone," Colom said. "They did not believe a moment like this was possible. But I kept the faith.

""There were times when I was ​tired, and I felt like I couldn't keep going, but I kept the faith, and that is another tradition of our state," he said. Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, became the ‌first Democrat ⁠to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982.

He harnessed frustration over the cost of living with a breakout campaign ad in which voters ridiculed Hyde-Smith's suggestion that consumers had multiple proteins to choose from instead of paying rising prices for beef. Colom's ad rephrased Hyde-Smith's comment with voters saying, "Pick another protein?

I'd rather pick another senator instead. "Colom interview that Mississippi voters felt betrayed by Trump policies such as the war in Iran, which ​has driven up fuel prices. His campaign ​received a boost from October rallies ⁠with two other Black Democratic senators, Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

HYDE-SMITH CONCEDESHyde-Smith, 67, who was appointed to the Senate in 2018 and won a special election later that year, had consistently led opinion polls in ​a state that Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Trump campaigned in Mississippi for Hyde-Smith near the ​end of the race.

She ⁠congratulated Colom and wished him well in a video posted on social media. The Democratic victory in Mississippi was a part of a national trend of Democrats finding success in states long dominated by Republicans, including Texas.

With a majority of white voters, Mississippi, deep in the once-segregated South, turned solidly Republican with the political realignment that followed the ⁠civil rights ​movement of the 1960s. Many of the movement's defining battles took place in Mississippi, where Black ​people faced discrimination in voting, employment, education and public accommodations.

The last Black candidate elected to the Senate in Mississippi was former slave Blanche Bruce in 1874.