Democrat Scott Colom has won Mississippi’s USSenate race after a prolonged ballot count, narrowly defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Colom thanked supporters for the victory, which many Democrats see as a sign of growing political competition in the US South.

Hyde-Smith conceded and affirmed the legitimacy of the election results. Supporters described the outcome as a historic moment in Mississippi, a state shaped by decades of racial division, as Colom becomes the first Black US senator elected from the state since Reconstruction.