Scott Colom is elected Mississippi's first Black US senator since Blanche Bruce

11 November 2026

Democrat Scott Colom has won the US Senate seat from Mississippi, a state that has sent Republicans to the Senate for decades. He defeated the sitting Republican senator, Cindy Hyde-Smith, by fewer than 5,000 votes, taking 49.2% against her 48.7%. The result was called on Wednesday, a week after the 4 November election. Now senator-elect, he will be the first Black member of the Senate from Mississippi since Blanche Bruce, who served from 1875 to 1881. Bruce was picked by the state legislature, as senators then were; Colom was chosen directly by voters. With this seat the Democrats will hold 55 places in the 100-member Senate, while the Alaska race is still being counted.