Scott Colom leads Cindy Hyde-Smith by about 2,500 ballots in the Mississippi Senate race a week after the midterm elections. The margin is less than 1%, and the count is still moving toward Friday’s certification deadline.
That lead sits on top of thousands of postal and affidavit ballots that remain uncounted. State officials estimate between 12,000 and 20,000 affidavit ballots were cast, and roughly 15,500 had been processed as of Tuesday morning.
Mississippi ballot count
State law sets this Friday as the deadline to certify results, which keeps the race open even after the ballots were due on Tuesday. Each party has sent teams of lawyers into Mississippi, and the remaining ballots will decide whether Colom can hold the edge.
Scott Colom leads by 2,500 in Mississippi Senate Race is the central number in the race, because the margin is smaller than the pool of uncounted ballots still in play. A Colom victory would also mean the state’s first Democratic senator in nearly four decades.
Jackson State University voters
At Jackson State University, many students said they voted for Colom. Jamyria Dunn, an 18-year-old first-time voter, said, "I really feel like a change is what we need," and added, "I've had some amazing days in my life, but seeing Mississippi, this state in particular, turn blue, would really bring a light to my heart that people just would not understand."
Journey Moore said, "On a scale of one to 10, it's definitely 1,000," about how excited she would feel if Colom won. Their comments show how the count has become a live question for voters who already cast ballots and are now waiting for the final tally.
Mississippi and Trump
Colom's narrow lead is happening in a state that President Donald Trump won in 2024 by over 22 points. If the lead holds, Colom would become the Magnolia State's first black senator in over 140 years and pad the Democratic Senate majority-elect to 55 seats.
The earlier Mississippi Senate race tally had Colom behind by 4 points, showing how quickly the count moved as more ballots were processed. The remaining affidavit and postal ballots now sit between that earlier gap and the current lead, which is why the final result still depends on what is inside the unopened pile.
The unresolved question is whether the remaining affidavit and postal ballots can erase a lead of about 2,500 before Friday’s certification deadline. In Mississippi, that answer now rests with the final count, not the first vote totals.
