History made as black Democrat wins Senate race in deep red Mississippi

Résumé détaillé

Democrat Scott Colom will be the next US senator for Mississippi, flipping a traditionally deep red state and becoming the first black man to hold that office since the Reconstruction more than 150 years ago.

Washington: Democrat Scott Colom will be the next US senator for Mississippi, flipping a traditionally deep-red state and becoming the first black man to hold that office since the aftermath of the Civil War more than 150 years ago.

After a count that took more than a week, the Associated Press declared Colom the winner at 6pm Wednesday (10am Thursday, AEDT).

He defeated incumbent Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, and delivered the Democrats an eighth new seat in the 100-seat Senate to increase the party’s total to 55.

Colom was considered an outside chance weeks ago, being several points behind Hyde-Smith in the polls, but became more of a dark horse as the campaign went on.

Asked about beef prices in a television interview in February, Hyde-Smith said: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from.”

Colom’s campaign turned that into a viral ad featuring a man with a southern drawl cooking on the barbecue. “Pick another protein?” he asks. “Shiiii ... I’d rather pick another senator instead.”

The result in Mississippi not only caps a dramatic national blue wave with generational impact on US politics, but marks a historic moment for the Deep South state.

The last Democrat elected to the US Senate from Mississippi was John Stennis, who served from 1947 to 1989 and was elected for the final time in 1982.

Like other Democrats at the time, Stennis was an avowed racial segregationist for most of his career, though he supported an extension of the Voting Rights Act in the 1980s.

Début de l'article, extrait de The Sydney Morning Herald. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.