SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Mississippi's U.S. Senate race has finally been called. Democratic challenger Scott Colom will be the state's next senator. That is according to a race call by The Associated Press. Colom is the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Mississippi since 1982 and the first African American to represent Mississippi since Reconstruction. Elise Catrion Gregg of the Gulf States Newsroom and Mississippi Public Broadcasting has been following this and joins us now. Hey, Elise.
ELISE CATRION GREGG, BYLINE: Hi there.
DETROW: I mean, a lot of historic markers there. Walk us through all of this.
GREGG: Yeah, absolutely. You know, Colom announced his run in late 2025, and it was seen as just kind of a long shot in a state that has been traditionally a Republican stronghold. And now he's won. When the votes first came in on election night, you know, Cindy Hyde-Smith seemed like she was ahead and, you know, for much of the campaign season, she was, you know, projected to be the winner. Although folks, you know, were aware of Colom's popularity. Here we are now. Latest results show he's roughly 5,000 votes ahead of her.
DETROW: Yeah. I mean, a Democratic victory in Mississippi is shocking, even in the context of the wave election that seemed to be building. Mississippi was not on the radar of that many people looking at states that could flip. It's a stunning loss for Republicans. What is the party saying?
GREGG: So we haven't gotten any official statements from Republicans in the state or from Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith just yet, although she has called to concede the race. But we do know that before this was all called, the state GOP said that they would be looking into legal options, possible litigation and just really closely monitoring the ballot count. And to be clear, both candidates have had volunteers and lawyers monitoring the count. But what I will say is that we're likely to see some legal action come out of this at some point or another. But, you know, it's very clear, as Scott Colom has said several times during his campaign, especially in recent days, the people of Mississippi have spoken.
DETROW: Mississippi doesn't have a recount law, right? It wouldn't be a set process that you know exactly what's going to happen?
GREGG: No, it's been interesting to see. There's no recount law, and we don't have runoffs for U.S. Senate race, so plurality wins, and the votes speak for themselves in this case.
DETROW: Elise last question - Scott Colom has this historic win, as we mentioned. What do we need to know about Colom?
GREGG: Yeah, so since 2016, Colom has been a local district attorney. His platform was on affordability, you know, healthcare accessibility, saving rural hospitals, which is a huge deal here in Mississippi. And he said that his work as a DA in an area that leans right has really informed just his push for bipartisanship and prioritizing issues that matter to Mississippians across the state. When he was a DA, a big priority of his was ensuring that innocent folks weren't being put in prison. In fact, that was part of his platform that helped him win against the previous DA.
And he has just had a really robust campaign over the last year or so. He's gone all the way to the coast to the very north part of Mississippi, through the Delta and central Mississippi. He's talked to folks from both parties. I think, notably, when President Trump came to Corinth, Mississippi, for a rally for Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, Colom was in line with folks trying to get in, talking to them about what issues matter to them. He's run a really robust campaign, and I think that's resonated with the voters here in Mississippi.
DETROW: That's Elise Catrion Gregg with Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Gulf States Newsroom. Thanks so much.
GREGG: Thank you.
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