Republicans are holding out hope that a couple of GOP-held Senate seats yet to be called remain in their hands, though that hope is dwindling.
Democrat Scott Colom has expanded his narrow lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith as Mississippi’s unresolved Senate election moves deeper into the ballot-counting process.
As of the latest Associated Press results Friday evening, Colom had 467,930 votes, or 49.1%, compared with Hyde-Smith’s 465,356 votes, or 48.8%.
That puts Colom ahead by 2,574 votes.
Independent candidate Ty Pinkins had received 20,028 votes, accounting for roughly 2.1% of ballots counted.
The Associated Press had not called the race as of Sunday because thousands of ballots could still affect the outcome.
Approximately 96.9% of the expected statewide vote had been counted in the latest AP tabulation.
Earlier Friday, Colom’s advantage stood at 2,029 votes, with 467,153 votes for the Democrat and 465,124 for Hyde-Smith.
His margin subsequently grew as additional results were reported.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said between 12,000 and 20,000 affidavit ballots could remain for county officials to review.
Those ballots, known as provisional ballots elsewhere, are used when questions arise concerning a voter’s registration, identification or eligibility.
Election commissioners must determine whether each affidavit ballot satisfies state requirements before adding it to the final count.
Thousands of mail ballots could also potentially arrive before Mississippi’s deadline, provided they were properly postmarked by Election Day.
Counties have until Nov. 13 to certify their election results.
The unusually close contest has already produced legal maneuvering from both campaigns.
Attorneys representing Hyde-Smith asked election officials across Mississippi’s 82 counties to preserve and separately maintain affidavit ballots as officials determine their validity.
Colom’s attorneys objected, arguing counties should continue following their normal procedures for reviewing and counting legally cast ballots.
Both campaigns have deployed attorneys and observers across Mississippi as the process continues.
Colom expressed confidence Friday that the remaining count would confirm his advantage.
“I’m ready to accept the results, right? That’s what our democracy is all about,” Colom said.
“When people lose, they can’t be sore losers; they have to accept the results.”
Colom also challenged Hyde-Smith to publicly address the state of the contest.
“The senator needs to speak out, right? Where is Cindy Hyde-Smith?” Colom said.
“We wanna hear from her. She needs to answer questions. What is her path to victory? She doesn’t have one.”
Hyde-Smith’s campaign has disputed that assessment and maintained that enough Republican-leaning votes remain outstanding for the incumbent to prevail.
“We believe thousands of votes remain to be counted from dozens of Republican counties, and we are confident those votes will reinforce her path to victory,” her campaign said.
Mississippi’s election laws could complicate matters further if the final margin remains extremely narrow.
Unlike many states, Mississippi does not provide an automatic recount in a statewide election based solely on a close margin.
Candidates also cannot simply request a traditional recount.
A losing candidate can instead examine election materials after certification and potentially pursue a court challenge involving disputed ballots.
The race represents an unexpectedly difficult fight for Republicans in a state President Donald Trump carried by roughly 22 percentage points in 2024.
Hyde-Smith won her previous Senate election in 2020 by approximately 10 points.
Trump traveled to Mississippi during the closing stretch of the campaign to rally with Hyde-Smith as Republicans worked to protect the seat.
Colom, a district attorney and former federal judicial nominee, mounted a stronger challenge than Republicans initially anticipated.
A victory would make Colom Mississippi’s first black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
It would also give Democrats another Senate pickup following their capture of the chamber in Tuesday’s elections.
Mississippi has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982.
For now, however, neither candidate can claim victory.
