Mississippi Senate race remains undecided as thousands of ballots await counting

Democrat Scott Colom narrowly leads incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race, with only a few thousand votes separating them after more than 950,000 ballots were cast. The contest remains too close to call several days after Election Day.

Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst vowed at a Thursday press conference to “fight like hell” to ensure that only “legally cast” ballots are counted. He estimated that approximately 20,000 outstanding ballots remained to be counted, without providing evidence that they were concentrated in Republican-leaning areas.

“Let me be clear: This race is far from being over.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent letters to circuit county clerks and election commissioners asking them to preserve and set aside affidavit ballots. A former state elections official questioned how useful that step would be because scanned affidavit ballots cannot be linked to individual voters.

Colom’s campaign manager called the NRSC letters a “desperate” move. Colom would become Mississippi’s first Democratic senator since 1989 and its first Black senator since 1881 if he wins.

State law allows mail ballots received by November 10 to be counted if they were mailed by Election Day, contributing to the extended count. Many provisional ballots were also issued to voters whose eligibility still needs verification.

Residents in Jackson expressed mixed feelings about the wait, with some calling the potential result historic and others finding the delay stressful. The outcome could mark one of the most significant Democratic breakthroughs in the midterm elections.