Scott Colom wins a U.S. Senate seat, becoming Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction and opening a new chapter in the state’s political history.
Upscale Magazine | November 13, 2026
U.S. Sen.-elect Scott Colom speaks at Tougaloo College in Jackson on November 11, 2026. Photo: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today.
Democrat Scott Colom has defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the race for the United States Senate, becoming the first Black person elected to represent Mississippi in that chamber since Reconstruction.
The Associated Press called the race on November 11, eight days after the November 3 election. For a state whose history is inseparable from the struggle for Black voting rights, the result carries meaning far beyond a change in party control.
A victory more than a century in the making
Colom follows two pioneering Black senators from Mississippi: Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce. Both served during the Reconstruction era, when the country was confronting the aftermath of slavery and the Civil War.
Bruce, born enslaved, represented Mississippi from 1875 to 1881. His departure marked the beginning of a gap in Black Senate representation for the state that Colom’s election has now broken.
The distinction matters: Colom is Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction, rather than its first Black senator ever. His victory reconnects the state with a chapter of political possibility that disappeared for generations.
From Mississippi’s courtrooms to Washington
A native of Columbus, Colom built his career in Mississippi’s legal system before pursuing national office.
He studied English and history at Millsaps College, taught English in Guyana and graduated cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Returning home, he worked with the Mississippi Center for Justice.
His career already included several breakthroughs. In 2011, he became Lowndes County’s youngest and first Black justice court judge. In 2015, voters elected him district attorney for the 16th Circuit Court District, covering Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties.
Colom and his wife, Nadia, have two daughters. His rise to the Senate brings a prosecutor, husband and father with deep local ties into one of the nation’s most consequential elected offices.
Scott Colom with his wife, Nadia, and their two daughters. Photo source: Scott Colom for Senate official campaign website.
Scott Colom addresses supporters in Jackson on November 3, 2026, before the extended ballot count resolved the race. Photo: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today.
A long wait for the result
The contest remained unresolved while county officials reviewed absentee and provisional ballots, known in Mississippi as affidavit ballots.
According to the Associated Press, Colom’s advantage stood at just 43 votes after the final election-night update. Subsequent county reports widened his lead. When the AP called the race, he was ahead by 4,669 votes out of 962,237 counted.
Those figures describe the count at the time of the call, rather than a final certified total. Hyde-Smith conceded on November 11.
An unexpected turn
The race also brought a striking reversal for the two candidates.
President Joe Biden nominated Colom for a federal judgeship in 2022. Hyde-Smith later blocked that nomination using the Senate’s “blue slip” process for home-state senators.
Colom ultimately sought the seat held by the senator who had opposed his path to the federal bench—and won. He also became the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi since John Stennis in 1982.
Celebration on historic ground
Colom celebrated at Tougaloo College, the historically Black institution that served as a refuge and organizing center during the Civil Rights Movement.
Supporters embraced and shed tears as a political possibility became a reality. The setting connected the evening’s celebration to generations who fought to make Black participation in Mississippi elections possible.
“I had the courage to believe that we could show the country that Mississippi matters,” Colom told supporters, according to Mississippi Today.
For Mississippi, the election adds a new name to a long history of barrier breakers. For Colom, the next chapter will be measured by how he represents the people who sent him to Washington.
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