HERNANDO, Miss. — The DeSoto County Senate vote shift between 2020 and 2026 was the biggest in Mississippi. The county went from backing Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by nearly 16 percentage points six years ago to favoring Democrat Scott Colom by more than seven points this month, a swing of roughly 23 points. WREG reported Thursday that DeSoto saw the biggest shift toward Democrats of any Mississippi county, and county-level comparisons published by Newsweek show DeSoto was one of eight counties Hyde-Smith carried in 2020 that Colom won in 2026.
DeSoto County Senate Vote Shift by the Numbers
In the 2020 U.S. Senate race, Hyde-Smith won DeSoto County with 43,171 votes (56.76 percent) to 31,115 (40.91 percent) for Democrat Mike Espy, a Republican margin of 12,056 votes. Libertarian Jimmy Edwards drew 1,768 votes.
The DeSoto County Election Commission’s official results for the Nov. 3, 2026 general election, posted Nov. 11 after the county’s affidavit ballot review, show a very different picture:
That is a Democratic margin of 4,138 votes, a net change of about 16,200 votes from 2020. Newsweek’s analysis, based on returns available when the Associated Press called the race on Nov. 11, put Colom’s DeSoto lead at 3,323 votes. The county’s later official count, which added 1,554 ballots, widened it.
Turnout Explains Part of the Swing
The comparison comes with an important caveat. The 2020 Senate race was on the same ballot as a presidential election, while 2026 was a midterm. About 76,000 DeSoto County voters cast a ballot in the 2020 Senate race. In 2026, the official count shows 55,956 ballots cast countywide, a turnout of 46.71 percent of 119,801 registered voters.
Much of the swing came from lower Republican turnout rather than new Democratic votes. Colom received about 1,850 fewer DeSoto votes than Espy did in 2020, while Hyde-Smith’s county total fell by about 18,000. Newsweek also noted that DeSoto is one of Mississippi’s main growth centers, with its population up 6.8 percent between 2020 and 2025.
Part of a Statewide Pattern
DeSoto was not alone. Newsweek counted eight counties that Hyde-Smith won in 2020 and Colom won in 2026: DeSoto, Forrest, Grenada, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Madison, Winston and Yalobusha. Colom led Hyde-Smith statewide by 4,669 votes out of more than 962,000 counted when the AP called the race, a margin of about half a percentage point.
Because the statewide race was decided by fewer than 5,000 votes, DeSoto’s swing of more than 16,000 net votes was one of the largest single factors in the outcome. Colom will be Mississippi’s first popularly elected Black U.S. senator. Hyde-Smith conceded on Nov. 11.
What Comes Next
Mississippi counties must certify their results to the Secretary of State by Friday, Nov. 13, and the state will then publish certified statewide totals. Mississippi has no automatic recount for close statewide races. The county has not released a breakdown of how many affidavit ballots were accepted or rejected.
The 2026 numbers in this story are DeSoto County votes only, from the county’s official summary report. The 2020 figures are from the state’s certified results.
