Democrat leads by 1,000 votes in Mississippi Senate shock

Democrat leads in Mississippi Senate race

With ninety-six percent of votes counted as of Thursday morning, Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just over one thousand votes in the race for a US Senate seat.

A state that hasn't elected a Democrat in 40 years

Mississippi has not elected a Democratic candidate to the US Senate in more than forty years. If Colom wins, he would be the first black US senator elected in Mississippi since eighteen seventy-five.

Hyde-Smith's record and Trump's backing

Cindy Hyde-Smith was elected in two thousand eighteen and is the first woman to represent Mississippi in the US Congress.

Both campaigns claim confidence

Hyde-Smith's campaign said it remained confident that when every legally cast vote is counted, Mississippians will have reelected her.Colom said he had an army of lawyers working to ensure the count continued according to law.

“I am very happy with where we stand. I'm confident once the process plays out, where we are, where the ballots are, we're gonna win.”

Outstanding ballots could delay the result

Mississippi does not allow automatic recounts or candidate-requested recounts.About three thousand six hundred absentee ballots remained outstanding as of Wednesday, plus several thousand affidavit ballots, according to Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson and Colom.

Result unlikely before November 10

Julie Wronski, an associate professor of political science at the University of Mississippi, said the race is very likely not to be called until at least November ten because the difference between candidates is so…

“Because the difference between the two candidates is so narrow, really, we're going to have to wait for every single vote received in any capacity to be counted.”

Black voter turnout surged in Mississippi

Mississippi is home to the largest percentage of African Americans in the US, at nearly forty percent.

“We saw long lines for absentee voting. We saw long lines in person yesterday. Folks everywhere were motivated across the state.”

Democrats invested after decades of neglect

The Democratic Party sent extra funding to the Mississippi race in recent weeks, seeing an unexpected opportunity to flip the seat.