Democrat Scott Colom expanded his statewide lead over Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith to 2,990 votes following late Tuesday county ballot updates, surpassing 470,000 total votes, or roughly 3,000 more than Kamala Harris received in Mississippi in 2024. The final batch of the night from Rankin County added 312 votes, splitting 167 for Colom (53.5%), 139 for Hyde-Smith (44.6%) and 6 for independent Ty Pinkins (1.9%) to net Colom 28 votes.
Colom’s margin grew from 2,607 votes earlier Tuesday across 17 new county batches as Mississippi passed its deadlines to resolve affidavit ballots and receive postmarked mail-in votes. He added to his tally with net gains of 123 votes in Madison County (546 to 423), 111 in Grenada County (147 to 36), 110 in Panola County (154 to 44), 83 in Jones County (152 to 69) and 46 in Tunica County (49 to 3), which outweighed Hyde-Smith’s net gains of 123 votes in Pearl River County (230 to 107) and 36 in an earlier Rankin County report (179 to 143).
Although the Associated Press has not yet called the race, VoteHub co-founder Zachary Donnini said the 17 drops gave him no reason to change his expectation that Colom will win the seat, while election analyst Christian Heiens called the race for Colom. A victory would make Colom the first Democrat to win a US Senate election in Mississippi since 1982 and the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction. Mississippi law provides no automatic or candidate-requested recount, requiring a court order for any second count after all 82 counties submit certified results by Friday, Nov 13.