Democrat and former prosecutor Scott Colom has achieved a historic milestone in Mississippi, becoming the deeply conservative state’s first Black U.S. senator in more than 150 years. His breakthrough marks the first Democratic Senate victory in Mississippi in over four decades, following a midterm election cycle that many political observers have characterized as a “blue tsunami” after Democrats established firm control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
It has been 43 years since a Democrat last captured a U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi, back in 1982. Colom’s win represents a historic turning point for the state’s African American community, making him the first Black individual to serve as a Mississippi senator since 1874.
The election outcome was finalized late Wednesday, more than a week after Election Day. In a remarkably tight race, Colom defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith—a prominent ally of President Donald Trump—by fewer than 5,000 votes after 99 percent of the ballots were tallied. The result came as a surprise to many, as Hyde-Smith had consistently led in pre-election polling across a state where Trump previously won by 23 percentage points in 2024.
With Colom’s victory, the Democratic Senate majority expands to 55-44. A separate tight contest in Alaska remains under active count, where Democrat Mary Peltola maintains a narrow lead. Nationally, only 14 Black senators have ever been elected or appointed to the U.S. Senate; Colom is set to join a record cohort of seven new Black senators entering the chamber.
Celebrating the late-night call on Wednesday, the 43-year-old senator-elect addressed an enthusiastic crowd of supporters at his victory party at the historically Black Tougaloo College in Jackson. Reflecting on the demanding campaign, Colom admitted there were moments when exhaustion almost took over.
“There were times when I was tired, and I felt like I couldn’t keep going, but I kept the faith,” Colom told the audience. He added that he “had the courage to believe in Mississippi” and demonstrate to the nation that the state’s voice matters. He followed up on social media platform X on Thursday, writing that the win belonged to all supporters and expressing honor at serving as their new senator-elect. “I am not trying to be a threat to anybody,” Colom told CNN. I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters.”.
Born in Columbus to a family of attorneys, Colom is an experienced lawyer who served continuously as a Mississippi prosecutor from 2016 until this year. He is married to Nadia Colom, with whom he has two children, and relied heavily on his identical twin brother, Andrew, throughout his campaign strategy. Despite Mississippi having one of the highest proportions of Black residents in the United States, no Black official had won a statewide election in more than 140 years prior to this race.
Colom first made history in 2015 when he was elected as the first Black American district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Judicial District, encompassing Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, and Oktibbeha counties—a region with a majority-white population. Among his notable legal actions was reviewing the case of Eddie Lee Howard, a Black man who spent 26 years on death row for a murder conviction. After a judge overturned the conviction due to a lack of evidence in 2021, Colom formally dropped all remaining charges.
In 2022, former President Joe Biden nominated Colom for a position as a U.S. district judge. However, the nomination was stalled by Senator Hyde-Smith, who cited objections over allegations regarding funding from billionaire George Soros and Colom’s positions on transgender athletes. What are Colom’s positions on major issues in the US.
Throughout his Senate run, Colom focused his platform heavily on affordability and local governance. He criticized Hyde-Smith for allegedly abandoning local needs and spoke out against the deeply unpopular war with Iran, which he blamed for driving up everyday costs like food and fuel. He pledged to restore congressional oversight on foreign conflicts, preserve Senate control over tariffs, raise the federal minimum wage, and enact federal tax cuts for Mississippians earning under $75,000 annually. He also promised to cut federal taxes for Mississippians earning less than $75,000.
On healthcare and public safety, Colom vowed to resist the Trump administration’s proposed reductions to Medicaid, push for increased compensation for law enforcement, and support strict border security while maintaining legal due process. Regarding Big Tech, he stated that local communities should retain final authority over data center construction, requiring tech firms to cover their own utility costs for power and water while pushing for enhanced artificial intelligence oversight.
Colom’s campaign strategy actively sought cross-party appeal. His final campaign ad referenced Medgar Evers, the decorated World War II veteran and civil rights leader who fought against segregation before his 1963 assassination by a Ku Klux Klan member. The message resonated across traditional party lines, leading numerous self-identified Republican voters in Mississippi to declare online that they broke political ranks to support Colom. A US Army veteran and civil rights advocate who fought for the US in Normandy during World War II and returned home to fight racism during the Civil Rights Movement when Black people were pushing for the right to vote and to use restaurants or public restrooms. Evers was murdered in 1963 by a member of the Ku Klux Klan, he invoked the memory of Medgar Evers.
His historic win has ignited national discussion, with some Democratic supporters already pitching him as a potential 2028 presidential contender while certain conservative figures label him a political force even more formidable than Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Colom, however, brushed off the presidential speculation in an interview with CNN, emphasizing that his sole priority remains delivering results for the people of Mississippi through listening and accountable leadership.
