GOP At Risk Of Losing Another Senate Seat In Deep Red State, Race Too Close To Call

DDHQ Race Update (est. 98% in): Mississippi US Senate

Scott Colom (D): 460,005 (49.1%)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R): 456,823 (48.8%)

Follow more results here:https://t.co/SE8JSxLSFZ pic.twitter.com/NhX1GvTuww

— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 4, 2026

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The contest has put the reliably red state in the national spotlight as Democrats celebrate massive victories in Tuesday’s midterm elections, winning control of both chambers of Congress and flipping several Republican-held Senate seats.

A victory for Colom, a district attorney in the Magnolia State, would mark the eighth Senate seat Democrats have flipped this election cycle and a stunning political shift in Mississippi, which President Trump won by more than 20 percentage points in 2024.

The race drew increasing attention in the closing days of the campaign as Democrats saw an opportunity to unseat Hyde-Smith, who was widely viewed as weak on the campaign trail, despite the state’s strong GOP lean.

Colom’s showing in the contest comes amid a wave of blue victories in states considered to be Republican strongholds, including Kansas, where Adam Hamilton defeated Sen. Roger Marshall (R), and South Carolina, where Annie Andrews ousted Sen. Darline Graham (R).

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), delivering the party its first Senate victory in the Lone Star State in nearly four decades.

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We have moved the Mississippi and Alaska U.S. Senate races to Lean Democratic on https://t.co/D2ZT4EH5Rb. Both races remain too close to call. pic.twitter.com/2PgsYPbrnl

— VoteHub (@VoteHub) November 4, 2026

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In Mississippi, with nearly all precincts reporting, Democratic challenger Scott Colom and incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith are in a dead heat, with each claiming 48.9% of the vote. According to the latest count, Colom leads Hyde by just 43 votes with more than 900,000 ballots cast.

The state will count all mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 and received within five days of the election. Provisional ballots, which are provided to people whose eligibility to vote is uncertain, are also allowed to be counted for up to five business days after Election Day.

Neither candidate has claimed victory, but both projected confidence in election night speeches. Hyde-Smith said she would “continue” as the state’s senator, while Colom said that “deep down” in his “soul” he believed he would win. If Colom pulls it off, he’ll be the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in Mississippi in nearly four decades as well as the state’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.

Mississippi state law does not have a mechanism for automatic vote recounts, and it remains unclear whether, or how, a recount could be initiated.

Meanwhile in Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is leading Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan by a razor-thin margin of several hundred votes with about three-quarters of ballots counted. But a final margin may be weeks away.

Alaska accepts absentee ballots up to 15 days after Election Day. The state uses ranked-choice voting if no candidate gets at least 50% in the first round of counting. As of Wednesday morning, Peltola was at 48.2% of ballots counted so far, while Sullivan was at 47.9%.

The state won’t even begin to tabulate voters’ preferences for two weeks, meaning we may not know who won in Alaska until closer to Thanksgiving.

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