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Ongoing story / Mississippi

The 2026 Mississippi Senate race: Cindy Hyde-Smith vs. Scott Colom

Overview · reviewed November 12, 2026

Democrat Scott Colom, a , defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's 2026 Senate race, CNN projected on November 7, a historic win in a state that has not had a Democratic senator since 1989.[1][2] The count had been too close to call for days, with Colom narrowly ahead, and with no procedure on the books, both parties had sent election lawyers to scrutinize it.[3][2][4]

Read the timeline

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The count had been too close to call for days, with Colom narrowly ahead, and with no procedure on the books, both parties had sent election lawyers to scrutinize it.[3][2][4]

Coverage over time

Share of tracked outlets · weekly (UTC)

Week of 2026-10-19 (UTC): 1%, 5 of 479 tracked outlets (2 left, 2 center, 1 right)Week of 2026-10-26 (UTC): under 1%, 2 of 473 tracked outlets (1 left, 1 center, 0 right)Week of 2026-11-02 (UTC): 10%, 48 of 471 tracked outlets (17 left, 22 center, 9 right)Week of 2026-11-09 (UTC): 18%, 83 of 473 tracked outlets (32 left, 39 center, 12 right), so far

LeftCenterRightLighter bar: this week so far

Each bar is the share of the outlets on our Left / Center / Right rating scale that we tracked publishing that week which carried reporting on this story, split by the outlets' ratings. We track more outlets now than in the archive, so a share keeps earlier and later weeks comparable. An outlet counts once a week however much it published, and outlets in one ownership or syndication group count as one on each side they appear on. A rating describes the outlet, not the report. A gap means no such reports were collected that week, not that nothing was reported anywhere. Weeks run Monday to Sunday in UTC, so a report published on a Sunday evening in US Eastern time counts in the next week. 7 more outlets off the scale (not rated, or outside the left-right graphs) also reported; they are not in this chart. See them.

Weekly counts, outlets and reports (4 weeks with coverage)
Outlets on the rating scale that carried this story each week, of the outlets tracked that week, newest first
Week of (UTC)LeftCenterRightOf trackedShareReceipts
Nov 9, 2026 (so far)32391283 of 47318%
Nov 2, 20261722948 of 47110%
Oct 26, 20261102 of 473under 1%
Oct 19, 20262215 of 4791%

Latest coverage

The newest reporting in this story's record.

  1. Nov 7, 2026 · first reported · Headline from Christian Science Monitor

    A remarkable Senate campaign shows how ‘Mississippi matters’

Background

CNN wrote that an unpopular president, a charismatic Democratic candidate and an incumbent who had underperformed other Republicans turned the race into the nail-biter of the midterms.[5] Senate Republicans weighed late spending to protect Hyde-Smith and Trump planned a rally for her in Corinth,[6] while Kamala Harris campaigned with Colom in Clarksdale and Columbus and Bill Clinton joined him in Tupelo.[7][8] Recent polls had suggested Hyde-Smith would win easily.[9] The Advocate noted that she had earlier blocked Colom from becoming a judge.[3]

As the count went on, Colom led by just over 1,000 votes,[3] and Republicans hoped a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the year on late-arriving mail ballots would help Hyde-Smith.[2] The National Republican Senatorial Committee demanded that election officials preserve documents and all , a first step toward possible legal action.[4] Harris's campaigning in the midterms is also followed in the arc on her path since 2024.

Supporting stories (9)
  1. Democrat Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Seat, Becomes State's First Black Senator Since 1881
  2. Turns out, Mississippi voters were paying attention in the Colom, Hyde-Smith Senate race
  3. Cindy Hyde-Smith Blocked Scott Colom From Becoming a Judge for Being Pro-Trans. Now, He Might Take Her Senate Seat
  4. National Republican Senatorial Committee asks Mississippi to preserve affidavit ballots
  5. How Mississippi became an unlikely Senate battleground
  6. Trump considering Mississippi visit to support Hyde-Smith
  7. Kamala Harris visits MS with Senate candidate Scott Colom
  8. Former President Bill Clinton joins Scott Colom at Tupelo rally
  9. Mississippi Sen. Hyde-Smith's sure-thing re-election is now a dogfight too close to call

The full record

Each date is when an update was first reported.

All 9 recorded updates

November 2026

  1. Democrat Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Seat, Becomes State's First Black Senator Since 1881Headline from Latin Times · 91 outlets
  2. Cindy Hyde-Smith Blocked Scott Colom From Becoming a Judge for Being Pro-Trans. Now, He Might Take Her Senate SeatHeadline from The M · 2 outlets
  3. National Republican Senatorial Committee asks Mississippi to preserve affidavit ballotsHeadline from Just the News · 3 outlets
  4. How Mississippi became an unlikely Senate battlegroundHeadline from KVIA El Paso · 6 outlets
  5. Mississippi Sen. Hyde-Smith's sure-thing re-election is now a dogfight too close to callHeadline from Blaze Media · 2 outlets
  6. Turns out, Mississippi voters were paying attention in the Colom, Hyde-Smith Senate raceHeadline from Mississippi Today · 46 outlets

October 2026

  1. Former President Bill Clinton joins Scott Colom at Tupelo rallyHeadline from WJTV Jackson · 2 outlets
  2. Kamala Harris visits MS with Senate candidate Scott ColomHeadline from WREG Memphis · 4 outlets
  3. Trump considering Mississippi visit to support Hyde-SmithHeadline from Mississippi Today · 3 outlets

Coverage & sources

Read the reports, see how much was collected over time, or compare outlets by political leaning.

Coverage & sources →