Mississippi's U.S. Senate race ended the way almost nobody in Washington expected: with a Democrat winning. Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith conceded Wednesday to Democratic nominee Scott Colom, a district attorney making his first run for federal office, after days of ballot-counting in one of the tightest, strangest Senate races of the 2026 midterms.

The Associated Press called the race for Colom on Wednesday. In a video posted to X, Hyde-Smith told supporters:

"WHILE THIS IS NOT THE OUTCOME WE WORKED FOR, OR HOPED FOR, I RESPECT THE DECISION OF MISSISSIPPI VOTERS."

She congratulated Colom and wished him well; two sources close to his campaign told The Hill that she called him directly that afternoon.

A Nail-Biter Comes to an End

Election night left the race separated by a razor-thin margin, with neither candidate willing to claim victory and thousands of ballots still outstanding in Hinds County, a Democratic stronghold, and elsewhere. Local election offices spent the better part of a week processing absentee, provisional and mail-in ballots before the outcome was clear enough for national outlets to call it, according to Deseret News.

Colom's win makes him the first Black senator elected from Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. Outlets differ on exactly how long it's been since a Democrat won a Senate seat there at all — CNBC puts it at 1982, when John Stennis last won; other outlets cite an even longer drought. Either way, political forecasters had rated the seat safely Republican heading into Election Day.

What It Means in Washington

Colom's victory brings Senate Democrats to 55 seats, with Alaska's race still too close to call. It caps a midterm cycle that has already cost Republicans several seats and triggered a wave of GOP soul-searching, including public acknowledgment from President Trump that the ongoing Iran conflict hurt his party at the ballot box. Colom is expected to be sworn in once Mississippi certifies the final count.