How the Mississippi Senate Race Became a Nail-Biter
Time · Chantelle Lee ·
Eyes are on the closely divided race, where Democratic challenger Scott Colom is leading GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by a razor-thin margin.
As Democrats are celebrating a historic blue wave, eyes are on the Senate race in deep-red Mississippi, where the Democratic candidate led the Republican incumbent by a razor-thin margin of 1,138 votes as of Wednesday evening.
The Associated Press has not yet called the race because it is so close, with Democratic challenger Scott Colom ahead by about 0.1%—he has so far earned 49% of the vote compared to Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith’s 48.9%, with 96% of votes counted. It’s a stunning nail-biter of a race that, in the weeks leading up to Election Day, polls had suggested would likely be won by the Republican incumbent by a narrow margin.
“I can’t recall the last time it’s been this close for a statewide Senate contest—or a statewide election in general,” says Aaron Hitefield, an assistant professor of political science at Mississippi State University. “It’s unprecedented for [Mississippi] to be this competitive for Democrats particularly, certainly in the last 40 years.”