Democrat Scott Colom Wins US Senate Race in Mississippi

Scott Colom, a 43-year-old prosecutor and the Democratic Party candidate, has defeated Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi's current US senator, in the Senate election held on 3 November in the southern US state. According to US media reports on Wednesday, Colom received 49.2% of the vote and Hyde-Smith 48.7%. Fewer than five thousand votes out of nearly a million counted separated the two. US media described the result as historic and shocking, BBC reported.

The win gives Democrats at least 55 of the 100 seats in the US Senate. However, the outcome of the Senate race in Alaska remains unclear.

First since 1874

The Associated Press news agency reports that Colom is the first Black senator from Mississippi since 1874, when the Reconstruction era began in US history after the Civil War. The agency calls his victory a seismic shift in a state where white conservatives have controlled politics for generations, even though Mississippi has the largest share of Black residents of any US state.

The result is also a blow to the party of US President Donald Trump, which suffered defeats in several traditionally Republican-held states in the midterm elections. It also bolsters the view of some Democrats that the southern states could be important for the party's future.

Victory speech

Colom delivered his victory speech on Wednesday evening to hundreds of supporters on the Tougaloo College campus in Jackson, the Mississippi capital. He said people had not believed such a win was possible, but he had kept faith, and stressed that the result was achieved by the people of Mississippi together.

Colom had already pledged during the campaign to represent the whole state, where politics and society have long been shaped by racial division. In his speech he repeated that pledge, promising to treat everyone's children and parents as he would want his own family treated, and to work to improve the life of every Mississippian.