Washington (Monitoring Desk) — Democratic candidate Scott Colom has made history by winning a Senate seat in the US state of Mississippi, becoming the first Black senator elected from the state in more than 140 years.
According to foreign media reports, Scott Colom defeated Republican candidate and incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith after a closely contested race. According to the results, Colom secured 49.2 percent of the vote, while his rival received 48.7 percent. The independent candidate secured 2.1 percent of the vote.
Colom’s victory is also remarkable because Republican candidates had been winning consistently in Mississippi since 1982. US President Donald Trump also won the state by a margin of more than 22 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
Conceding defeat, Cindy Hyde-Smith congratulated Scott Colom in a video message posted on a social media platform. She said that although the result was not what she had expected, she respected the decision of the people of the state.
Colom’s supporters celebrated as soon as his victory was announced. The organisation’s chairman, Leon Russell, described the win as historic, saying that an organised election campaign, particularly by the Black community, had played a significant role in securing the victory.