Democrat Scott Colom Wins Mississippi Senate Seat, Becoming State's First Black Senator Since Reconstruction

Democrat Scott Colom, 43, defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's midterm Senate race this month, 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. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he admired the senator-elect for showing up at a Mississippi rally and courting hardcore MAGA supporters in the final days of the campaign, a rare example of a Republican president praising a Democrat. Voters across the country have reflected on the result. Many older voters hope it opens a new chapter for a state and region with a long history of racism and segregation, while others want Colom to deliver on promises including tackling the cost of living, ending the US war with Iran and addressing the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies. Dye Bailey, a Black older adult in Grenada, Mississippi, said she hopes he will fight for healthcare for all Mississippians and protect voting rights.

Left-leaning outlets treat the result as a milestone and a legal story. The Guardian US leads with the history, gathering six Americans, including Bailey and a 71-year-old retired Chicago professor raised partly in Mississippi, to say what Colom's victory means to them. MS NOW's Deadline: Legal newsletter looks instead at what it calls an unintended consequence of the Supreme Court majority's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, arguing the court helped elect him. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and independent outlets had. The AP, in the alternative group, takes a separate angle, centering on Trump's praise for Colom's outreach to MAGA supporters rather than on the history or the court.