Democrat Scott Colom elected as next senator of Mississippi

Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in their Senate race.

The victory makes Colom the first Democrat Mississippi voters have elected to the Senate chamber in more than 40 years.

He will also become the first black person elected to statewide office since the Reconstruction Era.

Colom’s win will increase Democrats’ majority in the Senate.

The 43-year-old local district attorney centered his campaign on affordability issues, labeling his opponent ‘Cindy High Prices.’

In the days after the midterm elections, Colom led Hyde-Smith by a razor-thin margin as vote counting continued in the state. Colom said, “There were times when I was tired and I felt like I couldn’t keep going. But I kept the faith and that is another tradition of our state and I’ll tell you it’s local people that have faith that Mississippi could make progress and it’s local people like the people out here who have faith that we can win this election. So, God bless you. But as my mom would always tell me, faith without works is dead. And we worked this election, y’all. We worked. God didn’t want us to get it the easy way. He wanted us to give it, get it the Mississippi way.”

Mississippians also responded to the victory, sharing their thoughts on what this means for the Magnolia State.