Democrat Scott Colom has won the US Senate race in Mississippi, becoming the first Black senator elected from the southern state in more than 140 years, according to US network projections on Wednesday. The 43-year-old district attorney defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in one of the most striking upsets of a midterm election that saw Democrats reclaim majorities in both chambers of Congress.
CNN, NBC, and CBS called the race eight days after election night. With roughly 99 percent of votes counted, Colom led Hyde-Smith by 49.2 percent to 48.7 percent—a margin of just 4,585 votes.
“Mississippi, our prayers have often changed the course of history,” Colom told a jubilant crowd in Jackson, the state capital, on Wednesday night. “God didn’t want us to get it the easy way. He wanted us to get it the Mississippi way.” In a solemn, prayerful speech, he paid tribute to the state’s long tradition of Black activism and faith in progress.
Colom will also be the first Democratic senator from Mississippi in nearly four decades. Hyde-Smith, 67, who had held the seat since 2018, conceded in a video posted on X. “While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” she said. “I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”
A blow for Trump
The result in one of the most solidly Republican states deepens the setback for President Donald Trump. Voters across the country turned away from his party, even in states that had not sent a Democrat to Washington in decades. Democrats will now hold 55 seats in the 100-member Senate, with Republicans at 44; one race in Alaska remains uncalled. Including Mississippi, Democrats flipped eight Republican-held seats, with breakthroughs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas, and Maine—several of which had not changed hands for decades.
Control of both chambers gives Democrats the power to block legislation, investigate the administration, and stop Trump’s appointments. The defeat leaves the 80-year-old president as a lame duck for the final two years of his term. The race went down to the wire, surprising observers who had doubted how far the Democratic wave would reach. The wave was driven by mounting anger over Trump’s hardline immigration policy, the war in Iran, and the rising cost of living.
“Blue Mississippi is here,” Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, wrote on X after the projections came in. “Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done. I knew it from the moment I met him.”
‘The power of prayer’
The first Black senator ever elected in the United States, Hiram Revels, was from Mississippi, serving during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. In his speech, Colom described how Revels, a minister by training, used his powerful oratory to win support for his Senate run. “That’s an example of the power of prayer, and through our history, there are so many people that lifted this state up through the power of prayer in very dark times,” Colom said.
The Mississippi result is part of a broader Democratic surge that has reshaped the American political landscape. For European observers, the midterms signal a shift in US policy priorities, with potential implications for transatlantic relations. The new Congress is likely to take a harder line on issues such as trade, climate, and tech regulation—areas where Europe has often found itself at odds with the Trump administration. As Democrats prepare to take control, European capitals will be watching closely to see how the balance of power in Washington affects their own interests.
Colom’s victory also resonates beyond the US, echoing the struggles for representation and democratic renewal seen in Europe. From the rise of minority politicians in national parliaments to the ongoing debates about democratic backsliding in countries like Poland and Hungary, the Mississippi result is a reminder that political change can come from unexpected places.
