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Democrat Scott Colom wins Mississippi Senate race

19 outlets · 22 articles covering this story, sorted by lean.

16 left5 center1 right

Carried by the left. The right is largely absent here.

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Mixed evidence — a developing, contested story

The left is carrying this alone and the evidence is mixed. Read the receipts below and weigh it yourself.

6.3/10

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108

Facts extracted

27

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Primary source

A rules-based read of the 16 left-leaning reports carrying this story — derived from our per-article scoring (credibility, fact density, misleading elements, sourcing), not an editorial verdict. The receipts are below; weigh them yourself.

Left · 16

  • Mississippi elects Democrat Scott Colom as state’s first Black US senator since Reconstructionsentinelcolorado.com · cred 8/10

    <figure><img alt="" class="attachment-rss-image-size size-rss-image-size wp-post-image" height="682" src="https://i0.wp.com/sentinelcolorado.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/AP26315709941583.jpg?fit=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1" width="1024" /></figure>Colom becomes the first Black U.S. senator from Mississippi since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era.

    • · Scott Colom defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race.
    • · Colom is Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
  • Democrat Scott Colom wins historic Senate race in Mississippifrance24.com · cred 7/10
    • · Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi
    • · Colom became the state's first Black US senator since Reconstruction
  • How Scott Colom won deep-red Mississippi with little help from Democratstheguardian.com · cred 7/10

    <p>Democrat chatted up people at hair salons, colleges and at Trump rallies to become Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction</p><p>The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ozTp2-tou5I">ad</a> is simple, less than half a minute long, but many say it was the moment the nation took notice of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/mississippi">Mississippi</a>’s US Senate race.</p><p>In it, the incumbent Republican senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a cattle farmer, answers a reporter’s question about the rising price of beef: “You know, you have so many proteins to choose from,” she says.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/11/scott-colom-mississippi-democrat-senate-midterms">Continue reading...</a>

    • · Scott Colom became Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction and first Democratic senator since 1982.
    • · Colom ran a campaign focused on 'Mississippi Matters' and engaged voters through local interactions.
  • Democrat Scott Colom unseats Cindy Hyde-Smith in stunning Mississippi Senate wintheguardian.com · cred 7/10

    <p>Colom takes victory by razor-thin margin in state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982</p><p>Democrat Scott Colom defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith, the incumbent Republican senator, to become the first Black senator in Mississippi elected since Reconstruction, in a stunning upset after more than a week of vote counting in one of the country’s most reliably red states.</p><p>Colom opened up a narrow lead over Hyde-Smith late on election night. His lead widened as election officials counted absentee and provisional ballots. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-senate-colom-hydesmith-midterm-7f098b8834f598c923ba73572ea2223f">The Associated Press</a> called the contest on Wednesday, after it was clear Hyde-Smith was not able to close the gap.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/11/scott-colom-mississippi-senate-race">Continue reading...</a>

    • · Democrat Scott Colom defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi Senate race
    • · Colom is first Black senator elected in Mississippi since Reconstruction
  • 'The South Is in Play': Scott Colom Wins US Senate Race in Deep-Red Mississippicommondreams.org · cred 7/10

    <img src="https://www.commondreams.org/media-library/us-sen-elect-scott-colom.jpg?id=68664345&amp;width=1200&amp;height=400&amp;coordinates=0%2C290%2C0%2C1377" /><br /><br /><p>Local district attorney Scott Colom was declared the winner of a closely contested US Senate race in deep-red Mississippi on Wednesday after more than a week of ballot counting, a historic upset victory for grassroots organizing in a state that Republicans have dominated for decades.</p><p>"I had the courage to believe in Mississippi," said Colom, who will become the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction. Colom is also the first Democrat to win a US Senate election in Mississippi since 1982, succeeding despite <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/11/11/in-mississippi-black-votes-still-count-for-less-advocates-lament" target="_blank">ongoing attacks on voting rights</a> across the state.</p><p>Incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), who in 2023 blocked Colom's nomination to serve as a federal district judge, conceded the race on Wednesday and congratulated the Democratic senator-elect.</p><p>Colom said in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hsKADioqGI" target="_blank">victory speech</a> at Tougaloo College, a historically Black college in Jackson, that he sometimes "couldn't get donors to answer the phone" when fundraising for his campaign, a jab at Democratic higher-ups' lack of investment in Mississippi and the South more broadly.</p><p>Senate Democrats' campaign arm, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), excluded Mississippi from a $40 million investment in <a href="https://www.dscc.org/article/dscc-announces-40-million-investment-in-win-the-senate-program/" target="_blank">battleground states across the country</a> in July. The DSCC ultimately intervened in the final days of the race with a <a href="https://www.dscc.org/article/new-dscc-invests-500000-in-mississippi-places-coordinated-ad-buy-with-district-attorney-and-democratic-senate-candidate-scott-colom/" target="_blank">$500,000 ad buy</a> for Colom, who <a href="https://scottcolom.com/priorities/" target="_blank">campaigned on</a> fighting the affordability crisis, raising wages and tying them to living costs, and reversing GOP cuts to federal healthcare programs.</p><p>Colom drew widespread attention with viral ad campaigns spotlighting Hyde-Smith's comments downplaying the rising cost of beef.</p><p>"You know, you have so many proteins to choose from," the Republican senator said in February.</p><p>"Pick another protein?" a Mississippi resident responds in one Colom campaign ad. "I'd rather pick another senator instead."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube"> <span class="rm-shortcode" style="display: block; padding-top: 56.25%;"></span> </p><p>Britney Whaley, Southeast regional director of the Working Families Party, celebrated Colom's win as a challenge to "everything conventional wisdom tells us about Southern politics."</p><p>"This historic win in Mississippi should serve as a clarion call for the political establishment: It’s time to redraw the entire political map, reevaluate polling methods, and conduct a serious audit of investment portfolios. The South is in play, and it’s time to start acting like it," said Whaley. "This win belongs to the countless Black leaders and grassroots organizers who envisioned a future for Mississippi that much of the country could not imagine and spent years organizing, building, and fighting to bring that vision to life. And it belongs to the Mississippi voters who refused to have their voices silenced, showing up in the face of archaic and suppressive voting laws to make their voices heard."</p><p>"If this is what Southern organizers and candidates can accomplish with limited investment," Whaley added, "imagine what is possible when we meet their leadership and labor with the resources they deserve."</p><p>Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said in a statement that "Mississippi voters made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged, or counted out."</p><p>"Even in the face of efforts to remove voters from the rolls, attempts to intimidate voters and election officials, and bids to create fear around the electoral process, Mississippi voters showed up," said Johnson. "They showed up for their communities, for their families, and for the future of their state. They reminded the nation that we the people have the power." </p>

    • · Scott Colom was declared winner of the US Senate race in Mississippi
    • · Colom is the first Black senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction
  • GOP governor and prominent Dems congratulate senator-elect on flipping Mississippi seat bluefoxnews.com · cred 7/10

    Prominent Democratic political figures and Mississippi&apos;s GOP Gov. Tate Reeves congratulated Scott Colom for winning the state&apos;s U.S. Senate race.

    • · Mississippi's Republican Gov. Tate Reeves congratulated Democrat Sen.-elect Scott Colom on his victory in the U.S. Senate race.
    • · The Associated Press called the race for Colom, who defeated President Donald Trump-backed incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
  • Scott Colom Wins Stunning Victory, Becomes Mississippi's First Black Senator Since Reconstructiondemocracynow.org · cred 7/10

    Democrat Scott Colom has made history as Mississippi&#8217;s first Democratic senator since 1982 — and its first African American senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. Colom narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in a state that President Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Colom&#8217;s victory brings the incoming Senate Democratic caucus to 55. Colom gave his victory speech on Wednesday at the historically Black Tougaloo College, just miles from where civil rights activist Medgar Evers was murdered in 1963 by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.</p> <p>&#8220;There were times that I couldn&#8217;t get donors to answer the phone; they did not believe a moment like this was possible. But I kept the faith,&#8221; said Colom. &#8220;There are so many people that had faith in Mississippi at times where it seemed impossible, people like Medgar Evers.&#8221;

    • · Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi
    • · Colom is Mississippi's first Democratic senator since 1982 and first Black senator since Reconstruction
  • Open Thread: A New Day in Mississippiemptywheel.net · cred 7/10

    <p>This is an open thread. Talk about Scott Colom's historic win, Americans' changing perspective about race in politics, the future of the Senate, and anything else off topic for other threads.</p> <p>The post <a href="https://emptywheel.net/2026/11/12/open-thread-a-new-day-in-mississippi/">Open Thread: A New Day in Mississippi</a> appeared first on <a href="https://emptywheel.net">emptywheel</a>.</p>

    • · Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi
    • · Colom is Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since 1881
  • Relatives of Slain Freedom Summer Activists Celebrate Scott Colom's Historic Senate Win in Mississippidemocracynow.org · cred 7/10

    Democrat Scott Colom has defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become Mississippi&#8217;s first African American senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. The electoral breakthrough is particularly meaningful given Mississippi&#8217;s history in the civil rights movement. In 1964, three civil rights activists — James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman — were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan after traveling to the state to register Black voters. We speak with two of their relatives about Colom&#8217;s stunning upset.</p> <p>&#8220;I believe that people were voting for help. And they evidently saw something in Mr. Colom that made them feel like that they could hope again and that he was the help that was needed,&#8221; says Angela Lewis, the daughter of James Chaney.</p> <p>&#8220;The people of Mississippi have spoken,&#8221; adds David Goodman, the brother of Andrew Goodman. &#8220;And we have to cease and desist this divide-and-conquer business, because it&#8217;s not in our collective interest as the United States of America.&#8221;

    • · Democrat Scott Colom defeated incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become Mississippi's first African American senator since Reconstruction.
    • · James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman were murdered by the KKK in 1964 during Freedom Summer.
  • Democrat Scott Colom seals historic win in Mississippi Senate racebbc.co.uk · cred 7/10

    Colom is the first black person from the southern state elected to the US Senate in over 140 years.

    • · Democrat Scott Colom won the US Senate race in Mississippi
    • · Colom is the first black person from Mississippi elected to the US Senate in over 140 years
  • US midterms: Democrat Colom defeats Hyde-Smith in Mississippi to win historic Senate seatscmp.com · cred 6/10

    Democratic challenger Scott Colom defeated incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi election for the US Senate, media projected on Wednesday, making him the Southern state’s first black senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the US Civil War. The result was a stunning upset in the ‌heavily Republican state and expanded on the national drubbing the Democrats delivered to President Donald Trump’s Republicans in the November 3 midterm elections. The Mississippi victory...

    • · Scott Colom defeated Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi Senate election
    • · Colom is the first black senator from Mississippi since 1874
  • Democrat Scott Colom wins Mississippi Senate racenpr.org · cred 5/10

    Democrat Scott Colom has won election to the U.S. Senate in Mississippi, according to a race call by the Associated Press, defeating Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.

    • · Democrat Scott Colom has won election to the U.S. Senate in Mississippi
    • · The race was called by the Associated Press
  • Democrat Scott Colom wins the closest Senate race in the countrynpr.org · cred 5/10

    Mississippi hadn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than 40 years.

    • · Mississippi hadn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in more than 40 years
    • · Democrat Scott Colom won the Senate race
  • From Emmett Till to Robert Johnson, the Delta powered Scott Colom's historic Senate bidaxios.com · cred 5/10

    <p><a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/11/05/mississippi-senate-election-scott-colom-democrat" target="_blank">Scott Colom</a>'s path to a historic <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/11/11/mississippi-ms-senate-scott-colom-cindy-hyde-smith" target="_blank">U.S. Senate upset</a> ran through the Mississippi Delta — where <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/11/24/emmett-till-barn-civil-rights-mississippi-lynching" target="_blank">Emmett Till</a> was abducted, Fannie Lou Hamer fought for the ballot and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/05/10/sinners-blue-trail-mississippi-history-louisiana" target="_blank">the blues</a> became an American art form.</p><p><strong>Why it matters:</strong> Nearly 150 years after Reconstruction, Mississippi sent a Black American to the U.S. Senate for the first time since 1881. The votes pushing Colom toward that milestone came from communities where Black residents spent generations fighting for the ballot.</p><hr /><p><strong>Driving the news:</strong> <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/11/11/mississippi-ms-senate-scott-colom-cindy-hyde-smith" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> projected the race for Colom on Wednesday, handing Democrats a historic upset over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.</p><p><strong>By the numbers:</strong> An Axios analysis of <a href="https://abcnews.com/Elections/ms-county-senate-election-results-2026" target="_blank">AP county returns</a> found Colom ahead in 16 of the 18 counties in the <a href="https://www.msdeltaheritage.com/counties" target="_blank">Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area</a>.</p><ul><li>Colom collected roughly 100,000 votes to Hyde-Smith's 62,000 — a 38,000-vote advantage.</li><li>In 2020, Democrat Mike Espy carried 15 of those counties by about 25,000 votes, according to <a href="https://www.sos.ms.gov/elections/electionresults_aspx/elections_results_2020_county.aspx" target="_blank">Mississippi's certified county returns</a>. Colom's share of the two-party vote climbed from about 56% to 62%.</li><li>Statewide, Colom led Hyde-Smith by about 4,700 votes out of more than 962,000 counted when the AP called the race Wednesday — a margin of roughly half a percentage point.</li></ul><p><strong>What they're saying: </strong>"Mississippi voters made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged, or counted out," NAACP president Derrick Johnson said in a statement.</p><ul><li>Johnson said Mississippi voters showed up despite efforts to <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/11/06/mississippi-colom-hyde-smith-inactive-voter-registrations" target="_blank">remove voters from the rolls</a>.</li></ul><p><strong>Zoom in:</strong> Colom's electoral map traces some of the most painful and defining chapters of Black American history.</p><ul><li><strong>Coahoma County:</strong> Home to Clarksdale and the <a href="https://msbluestrail.org/blues-trail-markers/crossroads-of-49-61" target="_blank">famed crossroads</a> associated with the legend that bluesman <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/02/24/tamales-blues-latino-links-american-black-south" target="_blank">Robert Johnson</a> sold his soul to the devil. Colom led with about 4,700 votes to 1,300.</li><li><strong>Leflore and Tallahatchie counties:</strong> Emmett Till was abducted near Money in Leflore County in 1955. His body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River in Tallahatchie County, where an all-white jury acquitted his killers. Colom led by about 4,200 votes in Leflore and 1,300 in Tallahatchie, according to <a href="https://abcnews.com/Elections/ms-county-senate-election-results-2026" target="_blank">AP returns</a>.</li><li><strong>Sunflower County:</strong> Fannie Lou Hamer, who lived in Ruleville, challenged Mississippi's racist voting restrictions. As late as the spring of 1965, only 155 Black residents had registered to vote in the county, according to the <a href="https://mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/fannie-lou-hamer-civil-rights-activist" target="_blank">Mississippi Department of Archives and History</a>. Colom led with about 5,300 votes to 1,700.</li><li><strong>Washington County:</strong> Robert F. Kennedy visited Greenville during his <a href="https://mississippiencyclopedia.org/entries/robert-f-kennedy-in-mississippi/" target="_blank">1967 tour of Delta poverty</a>. 29.4% of Washington County is still in poverty per the <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/washingtoncountymississippi/IPE120223" target="_blank">Census Bureau's 2020–2024 estimate</a>. Colom led with about 8,700 votes to 2,400.</li></ul><p><strong>Zoom out:</strong> Colom didn't suddenly turn the Delta blue. Espy won most of it in 2020. But Colom widened the Democratic margin.</p><ul><li>In DeSoto County, which falls within the heritage area but outside the Delta's historic heartland, Colom led by about 3,300 votes. Hyde-Smith won there by roughly 12,100 in 2020. </li><li>Colom also swept the Golden Triangle counties of Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay, his home region in northeastern Mississippi. He won all three by double-digit margins and improved on Espy's 2020 performance.</li></ul><p><strong>Between the lines:</strong> The historical symbolism stretches beyond the Delta.</p><ul><li>Colom led with about 12,100 votes to 9,700 in Forrest County, named for Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Ku Klux Klan's first grand wizard.</li><li>Hyde-Smith faced criticism during her 2018 race against Espy after saying she would sit in the front row if invited to a <a href="https://abcnews.com/Politics/photo-cindy-hyde-smith-wearing-confederate-soldier-hat/story?id=59317755" target="_blank">public hanging</a>. She later apologized to those offended.</li></ul><p><strong>The bottom line:</strong> The region where Black Mississippians fought some of America's fiercest battles for voting rights helped elect the state's first Black U.S. senator in 145 years — and raised a new question.</p><ul><li>Can political representation finally bring economic change to the Delta?</li></ul>

    • · Scott Colom won the Mississippi Senate race, defeating Cindy Hyde-Smith.
    • · Colom led in 16 of 18 counties in the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.
  • Democrats rally around Colom's historic Mississippi victorythehill.com · cred 4/10

    Democrats rally around Sen.-elect Scott Colom’s (D-Miss.) historic victory in the Mississippi Senate race following his defeat of outgoing Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R). “We may have had to count One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, but Blue Mississippi sure has a nice ring to it,” former President Bill Clinton wrote on social media. “Scott, you put your...

    • · Sen.-elect Scott Colom (D-Miss.) defeated outgoing Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) in the Mississippi Senate race.
    • · Former President Bill Clinton commented on social media about the election outcome.
  • Mississippi elects Democrat Scott Colom to Senate in massive upsetpolitico.com · cred 4/10

    Colom's win is a boost to the Democratic Party as it seeks to gain a larger foothold in the South.

    • · Mississippi elects Democrat Scott Colom to Senate

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