Mississippi Senate election is too close to call Tuesday night

By Katherine Lin | Originally published by Mississippi Today

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom were locked in a tight race late Tuesday, with each trying to reassure nervous supporters as vote counting continued in a state where Republicans have had a lock on U.S. Senate seats for decades.

Hyde-Smith led Colom slightly, but The Associated Press had not declared a winner as midnight approached. Independent Ty Pinkins was pulling about 2% of the vote. 

While the race remained too close to call, the narrow margin reflected what some onlookers called a “bluenami,” with Democrats notching stunning victories in Republican strongholds such as South Carolina and Texas. Most forecasters had rated the Mississippi Senate race as safe Republican. But as results began trickling in, it soon became clear the race would be anything but safe for the GOP, with Colom overperforming in many counties compared to Democrats in other recent races. 

Shortly before 11 p.m., Hyde-Smith spoke to a crowd of supporters at a watch party in Flowood. She nearly declared victory but stopped just short, saying that she would emerge as the winner by Wednesday morning. 

“This is a much longer night than we thought it would be,” Hyde-Smith said. ”But we’re in a good lead right now.”

Hyde-Smith said there was record turnout on the Republican side, despite problems at some polling locations in traditionally Republican areas. She praised her campaign’s efforts, but acknowledged Democrats had given her a challenge she didn’t expect.

“I’ll tell you the Democrats got out and worked, they really got out and worked, and a lot of them showed up today. But not enough of them. I’ll just tell you that right now,” Hyde-Smith said. “I assure you I will continue to be your U.S. senator.”

Gerard Henderson, Colom’s campaign manager, told a crowd at Colom’s party in downtown Jackson that Tuesday was going to be a “long night.” 

“This is not over,” Henderson said. “We’re going to fight til the end.” 

Colom briefly visited with his supporters, hugging some of them and saying, “God bless you.” 

State Republican Party Mike Hurst said he expected Hyde-Smith to pull off a victory and overcome a disastrous performance for Republicans around the country. 

“I think if you look across the country, you see a number of things happen, a number of people responding to whatever the president has done, what Republicans have done,” Hurst said. “And I think you see that in Mississippi as well. At the end of the night, though, we are a Republican state. Mississippians are Republican individuals who are going to vote Republican.”

The Colom campaign estimated that around 10,000 or 15,000 affidavit ballots remained outstanding. The Hyde-Smith campaign said its internal numbers showed the incumbent would win. 

Brandon Presley, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2023, was at Colom’s watch party and crunching numbers with several supporters. He told Mississippi Today that Colom was in a better position on Tuesday night than he was on election night at this point in the gubernatorial election three years ago. 

Mississippi has no runoff in federal general elections, and the winner needs only a plurality. Colom is a Democratic district attorney in north Mississippi, and Hyde-Smith is seeking a second full term. 

The Mississippi Democratic Party filed a lawsuit against the DeSoto County circuit clerk shortly after polls closed at 7 p.m. The party argued in court documents that some polling precincts opened late and some ran out of ballots. 

The party asked for certain precincts to stay open an additional hour, but as of Tuesday night, well after polls had closed, a judge had not been assigned to the case. 

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article