// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Democrat Scott Colom seals historic win in Mississippi Senate race
Democrat Scott Colom is the first Democratic senator elected in Mississippi since 1982
Democrat Scott Colom has won the US Senate race in Mississippi, delivering a shock victory for the party in a deeply conservative state that has elected Republicans for decades.
Colom's victory makes him the first black person from Mississippi to be elected to the US Senate in more than 140 years.
Only a few thousand votes separated Colom from his Republican opponent, the incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.
The margin was so close that the race could not be called until more than a week after election day, as local officials counted every single ballot that had arrived before the deadline.
Colon won with 49.2% of the vote, while Hyde-Smith received 48.7% and an independent candidate got 2.1%, according to figures from CBS.
Hyde-Smith congratulated Colom in a video posted on X on Wednesday evening and wished him well.
"While this was not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," she said.
The result means the Democratic majority in the Senate is now 55 seats, with a knife-edge race in Alaska still to be called.
It also wipes away a Republican winning streak in Mississippi that dates back to 1982.