Scott Colom maintains narrow lead over Hyde-Smith

A margin of just 2,607 votes separates the Democratic challenger from Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, with outstanding ballots and certification deadlines keeping the result unresolved. Alaska’s Senate contest also remains undecided.

Democratic nominee Scott Colom has extended his narrow lead over incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi, as the state reached two important deadlines for resolving outstanding ballots on Tuesday, 10 November.

At 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, Colom was ahead by 2,607 votes from 953,547 ballots counted, with approximately 97% of the expected vote reported, according to the Associated Press figures cited by CNBC. The margin was just 0.27 percentage points. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins had received 20,034 votes.

The close contest has drawn national attention because Mississippi has not elected a Democratic US senator since 1982. A Colom victory would also make him the first Black senator from the state since the Reconstruction era following the American Civil War.

Tuesday marked the deadline for resolving affidavit or provisional ballots, which are cast when a voter’s eligibility or identification is not fully established on Election Day. It was also the final day for election officials to receive mail-in absentee ballots postmarked by 3 November.

The deadlines do not, however, mean that the result is immediately final. County officials still need to complete the counting and certification process, while outstanding ballots may affect the margin.

Mississippi’s fragmented reporting system has also made the count more difficult to follow. The Associated Press has been gathering information from individual counties rather than relying on a single central reporting system. Mississippi Today reported on Tuesday that Hinds County, the state’s largest county and a Democratic stronghold, still had outstanding affidavit ballots to process.

The AP’s election results showed Colom leading Hyde-Smith by a similar margin, but the race remained too close to call. The outcome therefore depends on the completion of the remaining count and the state’s certification procedures.

Mississippi has long been a stronghold for Republican candidates in federal elections. The closeness of the Senate contest is therefore notable, particularly given the state’s recent electoral history.

Hyde-Smith, who has served in the Senate since 2018, is seeking another term. Colom, a local district attorney, has mounted a competitive challenge in a state that has not elected a Democratic senator in more than four decades.

If Colom prevails, his victory would carry both political and historical significance. It would mark a Democratic gain in a state where such an outcome had attracted limited attention from national political analysts before Election Day, and it would break a long absence of Black representation from Mississippi in the US Senate.

However, the remaining vote count makes it premature to treat the result as settled. Both campaigns must await the official process before the outcome can be established.

Mississippi is one of two states where the Senate election remained uncalled in CNBC’s report. Alaska is the other, with Democratic nominee Mary Peltola holding a narrow lead over Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan.

Peltola was ahead by 2,517 votes from 218,641 ballots counted, a margin of approximately 1.1 percentage points. She had received 48.6% of the vote.

Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system could extend the process. If neither Peltola nor Sullivan receives more than 50% of the first-choice votes, the count moves to a subsequent round. The two lower-performing candidates, Gerald Heikes and another candidate named Dan Sullivan, would be eliminated, and voters’ next preferences would be redistributed between the remaining candidates.

The process means that the initial count does not necessarily determine the winner. The outcome will depend on the distribution of second-choice preferences and the completion of the ranked-choice tabulation.

The outstanding races are taking place against the backdrop of a major shift in the balance of power in Washington. Democrats have flipped seven Senate seats previously held by Republicans, giving them a majority of at least 54 seats in the 100-member chamber from January.

Consequently, the Mississippi and Alaska contests will determine the final size of the Democratic majority rather than which party controls the Senate.

For Democrats, a victory in Mississippi would add another seat in a state where the party has faced a long period without a successful Senate campaign. For Republicans, retaining Hyde-Smith’s seat would limit the scale of their losses in the chamber.

The unresolved counts also demonstrate how close Senate races can extend beyond Election Day, particularly when absentee and provisional ballots require additional verification. Until the remaining votes are processed and certified, neither Mississippi nor Alaska can be treated as settled.

Sources

• CNBC — Mississippi Senate: Scott Colom extends tight lead over Hyde-Smith as ballot deadlines hit
• Associated Press — 2026 US General Election Results
• Mississippi Today — Colom leads Hyde-Smith by 2,604 votes in Mississippi Senate race as final Hinds County tally looms
• Mississippi Secretary of State — Election Day reminders for the 2026 general election
• Associated Press — More than a dozen key races remain too early to call one week after Election Day