Colom, a district attorney, held a narrow lead as votes were counted over several days before Hyde-Smith conceded Wednesday evening. The victory marks the eighth Republican-held Senate seat Democrats have flipped this year and ensures the party will hold at least 55 Senate seats next year, with only Alaska's race still uncalled.

Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to the Senate in 2018 and won a full term in 2020, congratulated Colom in a video message. "While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," she said. "I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state." Colom's campaign confirmed Hyde-Smith called him to concede, and he was expected to address supporters at a victory party Wednesday night.

The win carries symbolic weight: Mississippi last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1982, just weeks before Colom was born. In the next Congress, no Democratic senator will represent a redder state—President Donald Trump carried Mississippi by 23 points in 2024.

Colom attributed his victory to years of neglect by his own party and to voter anger over Hyde-Smith's record. "We were never a lost cause. We were a betrayed cause," he said recently. "We were betrayed by Cindy Hyde-Smith because she allowed tariffs to hurt us. She allowed people—hundreds of thousands of Mississippians—to lose health care. She gave away our voice in the war in Iran, which drove up costs for farmers and for truckers and for businesses." He added that the national party had also failed to compete in the state for too long.

Exit polling showed a majority of Mississippi voters disapproved of Trump's job performance and said his policies, including tariffs, hurt the economy. Majorities also opposed U.S. military action in Iran.

The race drew national attention and money. Senate Majority PAC, a top Democratic super PAC, spent nearly $2.1 million on ads portraying Colom as a crusader against corruption in both parties, according to AdImpact. The GOP's Senate Leadership Fund responded with a similar-sized buy attacking Colom as "too liberal" and "too radical." High-profile surrogates descended on the state: Trump campaigned in Mississippi eight days before the election, while former Vice President Kamala Harris, Sens. Cory Booker and Raphael Warnock, and former President Barack Obama—who appeared in a digital ad—stumped for Colom.

Colom sharply criticized Hyde-Smith's vote for Trump's "big, beautiful bill," which cut Medicaid funds, and her support for the administration's tariff regime and the war with Iran. His campaign branded her "Cindy High Prices" and produced a viral video highlighting her comment that Mississippians struggling with beef prices "have so many proteins to choose from." The video featured clips of people saying, "Pick another protein? I'd rather pick another senator."

Hyde-Smith campaigned as a reliable conservative and touted her loyalty to Trump, who endorsed her more than a year before the midterms and called her "100% MAGA." She said her team "worked tirelessly to ensure every legally cast vote was counted and that the people of Mississippi received a fair and transparent election."

The two had crossed paths before: Hyde-Smith blocked Colom's nomination for a federal judgeship during the Biden administration. Colom recently said he had forgiven her.

Colom's victory underscores the Trump administration's broad unpopularity two years after the presidential election, even in parts of the Deep South. For Mississippi, it means a new voice in the Senate—one who ran on fighting corruption, protecting health care, and opposing policies that he said drove up costs for working families.