Mississippi Senate race election results: Colom leads Hyde-Smith by 2,574

Five days after the US midterm elections, Mississippi’s Senate race still has no winner. Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,574 votes with about 97% of the expected vote counted, according to the Associated Press count on Saturday afternoon, 7 November. It is the closest Senate race of 2026 and, with Alaska, one of only two Senate contests that has not been called.

Why a deep-red state is this close

Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the US Senate in decades, and forecasters rated this seat as likely Republican right up to late October. Colom, a district attorney, ran close to Hyde-Smith all night on 3 November, then pulled ahead as late and provisional ballots were added. His lead was 28 votes at one point; it has grown to about 2,500 since.

Out of roughly 953,000 votes counted, Colom has about 49.1% and Hyde-Smith 48.8%. Independent Ty Pinkins has just over 20,000 votes, about 2.1%, more than enough to have decided the race either way.

If Colom holds on, he would be the first Black senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction era after the US Civil War.

No recount, so the fight is over ballots

Mississippi law has no automatic or requested recount. A court could still order one, and both campaigns have sent lawyers into the state.

The argument now is about affidavit ballots, cast by voters whose eligibility has to be checked before they count. Colom’s campaign says between 10,000 and 15,000 were cast this year. Hyde-Smith’s lawyers have written to state officials demanding that all affidavit ballots be separated, kept under secure custody and preserved, and have asked election officials in all 82 counties to separate provisional ballots so their eligibility can be checked. Colom’s lawyers have called those demands extraordinary.

Counties are still reviewing those ballots and waiting for about 3,000 absentee ballots that were posted on time. Reports differ on the deadlines: most give 13 November for counties to certify their results, while some say ballots must be dealt with by 10 November.

Why it matters beyond Mississippi

Democrats already won control of both houses in last week’s midterms, so this seat does not decide who runs the Senate. It does change the size of their majority, and a Democratic win in Mississippi would be the clearest sign yet of how far the vote swung against President Trump’s party.

For Pakistan, a bigger Democratic Senate majority means more say over war powers in the Iran conflict and over foreign aid, both of which touch the region directly.

The next number to watch is the affidavit count from the larger counties early this week; if Colom’s lead survives it, the AP is likely to call the race before certification.