Why Scott Colom's Mississippi Senate Victory Took So Long to Call
Mississippi's 2026 U.S. Senate race remained undecided for more than a week after Election Day because thousands of provisional ballots, known in the state as affidavit ballots, and outstanding absentee ballots still needed to be reviewed and counted.
Democrat Scott Colom initially led Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 43 votes after the final Election Day update. As counties completed their reviews, his advantage grew. The Associated Press eventually called the race for Colom on November 11, after a final update from Jackson County increased his lead to 4,669 votes.
The delayed result made Mississippi one of the country's most closely watched Senate contests.
Why did Mississippi take so long to declare its Senate winner?
The main reason was the number of outstanding ballots that required additional processing.
Mississippi's election results were unusually close after Election Day on November 3. Following the final election-night update from Pike County at 2:03 a.m. Central Time, Colom was ahead of Hyde-Smith by only 43 votes.
That margin was too narrow for a confident projection while counties were still reviewing ballots.
Election officials had to process absentee ballots and affidavit ballots before the final result could become clear. These ballots were particularly important because they could change the margin between the two candidates.
Mississippi also does not operate a single central vote-reporting system that provides an immediate statewide picture. The Associated Press tracked updates from the state's 82 counties as officials completed their counts.
What are affidavit ballots in Mississippi?
Affidavit ballots are Mississippi's version of provisional ballots.
They allow eligible voters to cast a ballot when there is a problem with their registration or identification at the polling place. However, the ballot is not automatically included in the final count.
Election officials must review the circumstances and determine whether the ballot meets the requirements to be counted.
In the 2026 Senate race, thousands of these ballots required attention after Election Day. Some were accepted, while others were rejected following the review process.
This additional work extended the time needed to determine whether Colom or Hyde-Smith had won.
How did Hinds County help Scott Colom increase his lead?
Hinds County became one of the most important locations in the final count.
The county, which includes Jackson and is a Democratic stronghold, had thousands of affidavit ballots awaiting review.
Mississippi Today reported that voters had cast 2,426 affidavit ballots in Hinds County. Election officials accepted 817 and rejected 1,609.
When the accepted ballots were counted on November 11, Colom received 703 votes, compared with 96 for Hyde-Smith.
That result strengthened Colom's advantage and reduced the possibility that the outstanding ballots would allow Hyde-Smith to overtake him.
However, Hinds County was not the only factor in the final result. Other counties also reported updated counts, and Colom gained ground in several parts of the state.
How did Scott Colom's lead grow from 43 to 4,669 votes?
The change in the margin explains why the race remained uncertain for so long.
- After Election Day: Colom led Hyde-Smith by just 43 votes following the final election-night update.
- November 10: His advantage had grown to approximately 2,600 votes as more county results came in.
- November 11: Hinds County's accepted affidavit ballots further strengthened his position.
- Final AP race call: Jackson County reported an additional 2,173 votes. The update put Colom ahead by 4,669 votes out of 962,237 counted.
The Associated Press called the race shortly before 5 p.m. Central Time on November 11.
The final margin at the time of the call was approximately 0.5 percentage points.
Why did the Associated Press call the race for Scott Colom?
The Associated Press said Colom had won the overwhelming majority of the final county updates.
For Hyde-Smith to recover, she needed to win the remaining updates in Republican-leaning counties by sufficiently large margins.
That did not happen. Even in Jackson County, where Hyde-Smith needed a strong result, Colom won the latest update by just over one percentage point.
The AP estimated that fewer than 12,000 votes remained for county officials to review before the November 13 certification deadline. Many of those ballots were provisional ballots that might not ultimately qualify for counting.
Based on the available results and the remaining ballots, the AP determined that Hyde-Smith no longer had a realistic path to overtake Colom.
Hyde-Smith subsequently conceded the race.
Could Cindy Hyde-Smith request a recount?
Mississippi does not have an automatic recount process for this U.S. Senate election.
According to the Associated Press, Hyde-Smith would need to persuade a court to order a review of the election.
The distinction matters because a narrow margin does not automatically trigger a recount in Mississippi. The AP noted that Colom's 4,669-vote advantage was substantially larger than the margins in many elections where recounts have changed the winner.
The state's official certification process is separate from the AP's decision to call the race.
What happens next in the Mississippi Senate race?
The next step is the completion of the official county and state election certification process.
The Associated Press called Colom the winner on November 11, but its projection is not itself the state's formal certification.
Colom's victory also has historic significance: he will become Mississippi's first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction and the first Democrat to win a Mississippi Senate election since John C. Stennis in 1982.
Sources
- Associated Press: Why AP called Mississippi's U.S. Senate race for Scott Colom
- Mississippi Today: Colom lead increases as Hinds County finalizes count
- Associated Press: The latest on Scott Colom's Mississippi Senate victory
- ABC News: Concerns raised over voter challenges and affidavit ballots
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