Scott Colom's historic victory, the first Black senator from the conservative state of Mississippi in more than 140 years

Image source, Getty Images Caption, Democrat Scott Colom is the first Democratic senator elected in Mississippi since 1982. Author, Brandon Drenon Author title, BBC News, from Mississippi Publication date 31 minutes Reading time: 3 min Democrat Scott Colom has won the U.S. Senate election in Mississippi, a surprising victory for his party in a deeply conservative state that has been electing Republican candidates for decades. With this triumph, Colom becomes the first Black person from Mississippi elected to the U.S. Senate in over 140 years. Only a few thousand votes separated Colom from his Republican rival, Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. The margin was so narrow that the result could not be confirmed until more than a week after the midterm elections, while local authorities counted all ballots received before the deadline. An unexpected victory Colom won with 49.2% of the vote, compared to 48.7% for Hyde-Smith and 2.1% for an independent candidate, according to CBS data. With this result, Democrats have a majority of 55 seats in the Senate, pending the resolution of the close contest in Alaska. Colom's triumph also ends a streak of Republican victories in Mississippi dating back to 1982. Image source, Reuters No one expected the contest in Mississippi to be so close, given that Hyde-Smith was seeking re-election in a state where President Donald Trump won by more than 22 percentage points in the 2024 elections. Skip More read and continue reading More read End of More read However, Democrats have reaped a series of important victories in these midterm elections and have achieved control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party has gained seats in the Senate in several Republican strongholds, including Texas, South Carolina, and Kansas. According to polls, this is largely due to voter dissatisfaction with the economic situation and the war in Iran during President Trump's term. His campaign strategy Image source, Reuters Caption, Colom carried out an intense campaign. Colom seemed to benefit from the discontent with Republicans across the country. According to exit polls, voters' rejection of the Trump Republican Party was largely due to economic problems attributed to his government's tariffs and the war with Iran. Colom, a local prosecutor, took advantage of that climate to highlight his rival's support for Trump's tariffs and nicknamed her "Cindy High Prices." The Democrat ran an intense campaign in which he visited all 82 counties of Mississippi. Hyde-Smith's campaign accused Colom of being a puppet of George Soros, the liberal billionaire donor whose family has contributed to financing the Democrat's political campaigns. His opponents criticized Hyde-Smith for her scarce public appearances. Download the new BBC World Service app. Choose BBC News Mundo and receive news, documentaries, and analysis alerts, all in one place. Important: the new application is not available in the UK or the United States. Discover more Skip Video and continue Video End of Video