Scott Colom vs. Cindy Hyde-Smith: How Mississippi Recount Would Work
Newsweek · Anna Skinner ·
The race still hasn’t been called days after the midterm elections that saw a blue wave sweep congressional races across the U.S.
Less than 2,000 votes separate Democrat Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the race for a Mississippi U.S. Senate seat, and questions are mounting about whether a recount could determine the winner. But unlike nearly every other state, Mississippi has no recount process, leaving election challenges to be fought through litigation.
The race still hasn’t been called two days after the midterm elections that saw a blue wave sweep congressional, gubernatorial and statewide races across the country. Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate and House, with several surprising flips in traditionally Republican states contributing to the result, such as Democrat James Talarico winning Texas’ U.S. Senate seat, and Democrat Annie Andrews winning South Carolina’s.
In Mississippi, as of early Thursday afternoon, Colom led by 1,724 votes, about one-tenth of a percentage point, according to the Associated Press. Roughly 95 percent of the votes have been tallied. The close race is unusual for Mississippi, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1982, when John Stennis was reelected. It's been much longer since Mississippi elected a Black senator, last doing so with Blanche Bruce, who served in the Senate from 1875 to 1881. President Donald Trump won the state in all three of his campaigns, including by more than 20 points over Kamala Harris in 2024. Trump endorsed Hyde-Smith and rallied with her ahead of the midterms.
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