Democrat Scott Colom won a stunning upset in Mississippi's US Senate race on Wednesday after days of counting, US media projected, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become the Southern state's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the Civil War.
It was one of the final outstanding races to be called since Tuesday's elections, in which Democrats overwhelmed Republicans to win control of both chambers of the US Congress. His victory means Democrats will have at least 55 Senate seats. One more race is yet to be called, in Alaska.
Mississippi officials took days to count ballots in a race that was so tight that Mr Colom at times led by only a few dozen votes. Mr Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, became the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982.
Ms Hyde-Smith, 67, who was first elected in 2018, had consistently led in opinion polls in a state that President Donald Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Mr Trump campaigned in Mississippi for Ms Hyde-Smith near the end of the race.
Mr Colom told Reuters in an October interview that Mississippi voters felt "betrayed" by Trump policies like the war in Iran, which has driven up fuel prices.
On the campaign trail, he focused on reaching voters through town halls as well as visits to public housing, festivals and food trucks. "We did it the hard way, the grassroots way," he said.
October rallies with Democratic Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Cory Booker of New Jersey boosted Mr Colom's campaign.
The last Black candidate elected to the Senate in Mississippi was former slave Blanche Bruce in 1874.
In 2023, Ms Hyde-Smith blocked Mr Colom's nomination by former President Joe Biden to serve as a federal district judge in northern Mississippi, citing his position on transgender issues. Mississippi's other US senator, Republican Roger Wicker, supported his nomination.
