Mississippi Democrats nominated prosecutor Scott Colom in Tuesday’s primary election to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the November U.S. Senate general election.

The Associated Press called the race for Colom at 8:10 p.m. with 23% of the vote in, when Colom led with 69% of the vote compared to 22% for Priscilla Williams-Till and 9% for Albert Littell.

With 16% of the vote, Hyde-Smith appeared to defeat Republican challenger Sarah Adlakha 81%-19% as of 8:20 p.m.

Colom currently serves as the Lowndes County district attorney. Former President Joe Biden nominated the Mississippian to serve as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi on Oct. 14, 2022.

Hyde-Smith later blocked the Senate from even considering his nomination in 2023 by refusing to return a “blue slip” to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators can block judicial nominees from their home states if they do not submit the slip. Her colleague, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi, supported Colom’s nomination.

Hyde-Smith has served in the U.S. Senate since 2018 when then-Gov. Phil Bryant nominated her to replace Thad Cochran’s Senate seat after he resigned. She won the special election in 2018 to serve the rest of Cochran’s term and voters reelected her in 2020. 

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.