Democrat Scott Colom Defeats Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, Becoming Mississippi's First Black Senator Since Reconstruction

Democrat Scott Colom, 43, defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's midterm Senate race, becoming the state's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era. His win helped give Democrats a Senate majority of at least 55 seats, the party's largest midterm gains since 1986, according to The Guardian.

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he admired Colom, the Senator-elect, for courting some of his hardcore MAGA supporters in the final days of the campaign, including by showing up at a Mississippi rally. The AP described this as a rare instance of the Republican president praising a Democrat. Voters said they hope Colom will address the cost of living, the US war with Iran, Trump administration immigration policies, healthcare and voting rights.

Mississippi's civil rights history gives the result added weight. In 1964 the Ku Klux Klan murdered three Freedom Summer activists, James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, who had traveled to the state to register Black voters. Their bodies were found 44 days later.

Left-leaning outlets frame the result as historic and consequential. The Guardian US profiles six Americans reacting across racial lines, quoting Dye Bailey of Grenada, Mississippi, and a retired professor in Chicago, and gives Colom's age, the Democratic majority and the issues voters want addressed. MS NOW's Deadline: Legal newsletter takes a legal angle, presenting the win as an unintended consequence of the Supreme Court majority's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais. Neither is built around Trump's reaction. Alternative outlets add distinct angles. Democracy Now! interviews Angela Lewis, Chaney's daughter, and David Goodman, Andrew Goodman's brother, linking the upset to the 1964 murders. AP leads with Trump's praise for Colom. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had.