Democrat Colom wins tight Senate race in Mississippi

Democrat Scott Colom won a stunning upset in Mississippi's US Senate race on Wednesday after days of counting, US media projected, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith to become the Southern state's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era that followed the US Civil War. It was one of the final outstanding races to be called since Tuesday's elections, in which Democrats overwhelmed Republicans to win control of both chambers of the US Congress. Mississippi officials took days to count ballots in a race that was so tight that Colom at times led by only a few dozen votes. A spokesman for Hyde-Smith confirmed that she has called Colom to concede. Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, became the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate seat since John Stennis in 1982. Hyde-Smith, 67, who was first elected in 2018, had consistently led in opinion polls in a state that US President Donald Trump won by nearly 23 points in 2024. Trump campaigned in Mississippi for Hyde-Smith near the end of the race. Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer celebrated on social media. “Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done,” Schumer wrote. “Along with his staff and volunteers, Scott ran the campaign of a lifetime and...