JACKSON, Mississippi — Democratic challenger Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,964 votes Thursday in the Mississippi Senate race, with absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted two days after the election.
Decision Desk HQ reported 467,233 votes for Colom and 465,146 for Hyde-Smith as of 9:06 p.m. Central on Nov. 5, with more than 95% of the expected vote reported. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins had 20,013 votes.
How Hyde-Smith blocked Scott Colom’s judicial nomination
President Joe Biden first nominated Scott Colom, a Mississippi district attorney, to the US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in 2022 and resubmitted the nomination in 2023.
In April 2023, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said she would withhold her approval under the Senate Judiciary Committee’s “blue slip” practice. The committee required both home-state senators to sign off before it would hold a confirmation hearing. The Senate returned Colom’s nomination to Biden in January 2024.
Colom is now challenging Hyde-Smith in a state President Donald Trump carried by nearly 23 percentage points in 2024. Democrats have already secured control of the Senate for the next Congress. A Colom victory would add to their majority.
What remains to be counted in the Mississippi Senate race
County officials are processing affidavit ballots, Mississippi’s term for provisional ballots. Voters can cast them when they lack acceptable photo identification or when their registration cannot be confirmed at the polling place.
Hyde-Smith’s campaign lawyers asked county election commissioners and circuit clerks Thursday to separate and preserve affidavit ballots, saying they could become evidence in a potential election challenge, ABC News reported. Colom’s campaign manager, Gerard Henderson, criticized the request and said he expected Colom to win once all legally cast ballots were counted.
Mail-in absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day must reach county circuit clerks by Nov. 10. Voters who cast affidavit ballots because they forgot their photo ID also have until Nov. 10 to present acceptable identification at their circuit clerk’s office.
Under the state election calendar, county election commissions have until Nov. 13 to submit certified returns to the secretary of state, who is scheduled to declare the general election results Dec. 3.
