Mississippi’s Senate race remained uncalled Sunday with Democrat Scott Colom ahead, leaving the state’s potential first Black senator since Reconstruction dependent on the remaining ballot count, AFP reported.
AFP said 97% of ballots had been counted, with Colom leading Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,574 votes, a margin of 0.3 percentage points. Hinds County Election Commissioner Jermal Clark told AFP that officials were checking whether people who cast affidavit provisional ballots lived in the precincts listed on their ballots. These ballots are used when a voter’s eligibility cannot be confirmed at a polling station, AFP reported.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said in a Friday post on X that officials had processed 11,202 affidavit ballots and accepted about 78%. Watson said just under 2,900 absentee ballots remained outstanding.
AFP reported that a Colom victory would make him Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction. The last Democrat Mississippi sent to the Senate was elected in 1982, AFP reported. Census Bureau figures cited by AFP put the Black share of the state’s population above one-third.
Gregory Glass, a restaurant owner interviewed by AFP, called the wait “a little bit nerve-wracking.” AFP also reported that both parties had lawyers in the state as counting continued. Republicans sought to have officials retain records tied to ballots still being reviewed in case of legal challenges. The agency said Mississippi has no automatic recount, though candidates can seek court intervention.
EconoTimes previously tracked Mississippi among Senate races still awaiting final counts in its earlier coverage of the uncalled race.