Mississippi Democrat flips US Senate seat

Detailed summary

In a historic upset, Democrat Scott Colom has won his U.S. Senate race in traditionally conservative Mississippi, networks projected on Nov. 12, making him the first African American elected to the chamber from the southern state in more than 140 years.

Mississippi Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom attends an election event in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo)

In a historic upset, Democrat Scott Colom has won his U.S. Senate race in traditionally conservative Mississippi, networks projected on Nov. 12, making him the first African American elected to the chamber from the southern state in more than 140 years.

Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, prevailed over Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in perhaps the most extraordinary seat flip of an already extraordinary U.S. midterm election, in which Democrats crushed the Republicans to reclaim the majority in both chambers of Congress.

Colom’s win in the deep South adds sting to the stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump as voters around the country shunned his Republican Party, even in states that had not sent a Democrat to Washington in decades.

The latest win, called by U.S. news outlets that included CNN, NBC and CBS, will give Democrats 55 seats in the 100-member Senate, with 44 for Republicans and one race, in the state of Alaska, still outstanding.

The midterms result was a personal humiliation for 80-yearold Trump as a Democratic wave swept through the Republican heartland, leaving him as a lame duck president for the remaining two years of his term.

The Democratic flipping of Congress signals an end to Trump’s stranglehold on U.S. politics and gives Democrats the power to block legislation, probe his administration and thwart his appointments.

Including Mississippi now, Democrats flipped eight Senate seats that had been held by Republicans, scoring historic breakthroughs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Maine, several of which had not changed hands for decades.

The race in ruby red Mississippi went down to the wire, a surprise for many observers who doubted the scale of the Democratic blue wave riding on mounting anger over Trump’s harsh immigration policy, the war in Iran and rising costs of…

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