Key Points
- The Associated Press has NOT called the Mississippi Senate race.
- Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 43 votes: 462,821 to 462,778.
- About 95.6% of the expected vote is counted, with affidavit and absentee ballots still to come.
- There is no runoff in this general congressional race; the candidate with the most votes wins.
- Mississippi has no automatic recount; a recount would need a court order.
The Mississippi Senate race remains uncalled on Wednesday morning, with Democrat Scott Colom ahead of Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by only 43 votes after most ballots were counted.
What happened
Voters in Mississippi went to the polls on Tuesday, 3 November, in the United States midterm elections, choosing between Hyde-Smith, the Republican incumbent seeking another term, and Colom, her Democratic challenger. As counting continued into the early hours of Wednesday, the contest stayed too close for any major outlet to declare a winner. The Associated Press listed the race as too early to call, showing Colom on 462,821 votes and Hyde-Smith on 462,778, a difference of 43 votes out of more than 945,000 counted between the two leading candidates. Both candidates stood at 48.9% of the vote in the figures reported early on Wednesday, with independent candidate Ty Pinkins on about 2.1%.
The lead changed hands in the small hours as late returns arrived. Shortly after midnight, Colom moved narrowly ahead, and by about 5 a.m. Eastern Time his advantage stood at 43 votes, according to figures carried by Fox News and NBC News and reported by the Clarion Ledger. Neither candidate claimed victory in overnight remarks. Hyde-Smith told supporters she was in a good position but wanted every vote counted, while Colom said he believed Mississippi was about to show the country something. The closeness stunned many observers in a state that Donald Trump carried comfortably in 2024 and that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1982.
Why it matters
Mississippi was not expected to be one of the closest races of the night. Democrats have already taken control of the Senate after flipping seats in states including Texas, South Carolina, Kansas and Iowa, as reported in our coverage of the Democrats taking full control of Congress. A Mississippi win for Colom would add to that majority and underline how far the midterm wave reached, while a Hyde-Smith hold would at least stop the Democratic advance in one of the country’s most reliably Republican states. The result also matters because the Senate’s final margin will shape how much room the new majority has to pass legislation, confirm appointments and set the agenda for the final two years of President Trump’s term.
The contest is also a reminder of how much every ballot can matter. A gap of 43 votes is about 0.005% of the votes counted for the two leading candidates, smaller than the margin of error in most polls and far smaller than the nearly 20,000 votes won by the independent candidate. In a race this tight, the ballots still to be counted, rather than the votes already reported, will decide the outcome.
What happens next
Counting is not finished. About 95.6% of the expected vote had been counted in the early-morning figures, with roughly 44,000 votes still to come according to NBC News estimates. Thousands of affidavit ballots, cast by voters whose eligibility had to be checked, still need to be reviewed and counted, and Hinds County, home to the state capital Jackson, paused its count shortly after midnight and planned to resume on Wednesday morning. Mississippi also allows five more business days for absentee ballots to arrive, so the final totals may not be known for days.
Unlike some elections, there will be no runoff: in a general congressional race, the candidate with the most votes wins outright. There is also no automatic recount in Mississippi, however close the margin, so a recount would happen only if a court ordered one. Election officials will work through the remaining ballots county by county, and the Associated Press will call the race only when the remaining vote cannot change the outcome. Until then, both campaigns are expected to watch the count closely, and the seat stays undecided.
For context on the night’s other historic results, see our report on Abdul El-Sayed becoming the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.
Sources: Associated Press election results; Clarion Ledger live updates, 4 November 2026. Time: early morning, 4 November 2026 (Eastern Time). Figures are the freshest reported counts and may change as counting continues; the race has NOT been called.
