Mississippi Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Scott Colom, thanks students at Millsaps College, for their support, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Jackson, Miss. Colom is an alumnus of Millsaps. MFP Photo by Rogelio V. Solis
Democrat Scott Colom now leads Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,010 votes, further eroding the incumbent’s path to victory. Colom leads Hyde-Smith by 467,066 to 465,056, or 49.1%-48.8%, the Associated Press reported in an update at 11:36 a.m.
Hyde-Smith had hoped to begin making up lost ground as affadavit ballot totals trickle in, but so far, Colom’s lead has steadily grown with each new batch of votes counted.
Thousands of affidavit ballots remain to be counted across the state, though, and more mail-in absentee ballots could still arrive. Many of the outstanding absentee ballots are in Hinds County, home of the majority-Black and heavily Democratic capital city of Jackson.
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.
