Affidavit ballots broke for Democrat Scott Colom by a 69%-29% margin in the U.S. Senate race in Lafayette County, Mississippi, the home of the University of Mississippi. Overall, Colom won all votes cast there against incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by a far narrower 49%-48% margin, figures that Lafayette County reported today show.

If Colom’s affidavit vote margins similarly exceed his overall vote margins in other counties across the state, it would make it hard for Hyde-Smith to regain a lead. As many as 20,000 votes are outstanding statewide, many of them affidavit ballots. The breakdown is as follows:

Affidavit Ballots (207 cast)
Scott Colom: 142 (68.6%)
Cindy Hyde-Smith: 60 (29.0%)
Ty Pinkins: 5 (2.4%)
Write-in: 0 (0.0%)

Overall Vote Total (17,246 votes)
Scott Colom: 8,525 (49.4%)
Cindy Hyde-Smith: 8,325 (48.3%)
Ty Pinkins: 373 (2.2%)
Write-in: 23 (0.1%)

Colom also exceeded Hyde-Smith’s totals in in-person absentee votes and mail-in absentee votes. Hyde-Smith narrowly won Election Day votes in Lafayette County.

In-Person Absentee (2,985 votes)
Scott Colom: 1,598 (53.5%)
Cindy Hyde-Smith: 1,351 (45.3%)
Ty Pinkins: 35 (1.2%)
Write-in: 1 (0.03%)

Mail-In Absentee (167 votes)
Scott Colom: 97 (58.1%)
Cindy Hyde-Smith: 67 (40.1%)
Ty Pinkins: 3 (1.8%)

Election Day (13,887 votes)
Scott Colom: 6,688 (48.2%)
Cindy Hyde-Smith: 6,847 (49.3%)
Ty Pinkins: 330 (2.4%)
Write-in: 22 (0.2%)

Colom’s 1-point lead over Hyde-Smith represents a 23.3-point swing toward Democrats since the 2024 presidential race, when President Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in Lafayette County by 60%-38%. Turnout in Lafayette County reached 52.32%, the county reports, with 17,301 votes cast out of 33,067 registered voters.

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Award-winning News Editor Ashton Pittman, a native of the South Mississippi Pine Belt, studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously the state reporter at the Jackson Free Press, he drove national headlines and conversations with award-winning reporting about segregation academies. He has won numerous awards, including Outstanding New Journalist in the South, for his work covering immigration raids, abortion battles and even former Gov. Phil Bryant’s unusual work with “The Bad Boys of Brexit" at the Jackson Free Press. In 2021, as a Mississippi Free Press reporter, he was named the Diamond Journalist of the Year for seven southern U.S. states in the Society of Professional Journalists Diamond Awards. A trained photojournalist, Ashton lives in South Mississippi with his husband, William, and their two pit bulls, Dorothy and Dru.

State Reporter Heather Harrison has won more than a dozen awards for her multi-media journalism work. At Mississippi State University, she studied public relations and broadcast journalism, earning her Communication degree in 2023. For three years, Heather worked at The Reflector student newspaper: first as a staff reporter, then as the news editor and finally, as the editor-in-chief. This is where her passion for politics and government reporting began.
Heather started working at the Mississippi Free Press three days after graduation in 2023. She also worked part time for Starkville Daily News after college covering the Board of Aldermen meetings.
In her free time, Heather likes to sit on the porch, read books and listen to Taylor Swift. A native of Hazlehurst, she now lives in Brandon with her wife and their Boston Terrier, Finley, and calico cat, Ravioli.