The Latest: Mississippi elects Scott Colom as state's first Black US senator since Reconstruction

Democratic nominee Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot-counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration wants to sell public lands to states, tribes and local governments as part of an effort to “decrease the size of the federal estate,” according to a new plan presented by the Interior Department. Agency officials said the sale of federal property would allow the government to focus resources on “nationally significant” lands, which were not defined.

Here's the latest:

Despite Republicans’ domination in Mississippi, the path was always there

Because of the Black population and its alignment with Democrats, Mississippi’s general elections have been closer for years than those in neighboring Southern states. Trump won by double digits in each of his three presidential contests, but in 2023, Republican Gov. Tate Reeves managed to win reelection by a margin of just 3 percentage points.

Colom and other Black party leaders and strategists insisted throughout 2026 that he could narrow the gap with strong Black turnout, Republican discontent and an uptick in Democrats’ usual share of the white vote in Mississippi.

Results showed strong turnout in the Mississippi Delta, which has a concentration of majority-Black counties. But nearly all of the state moved leftward from the 2024 election, when Trump carried Mississippi by nearly 23 points.

Mississippi’s Senate race was one Washington once viewed as a long shot

The contest was a latecomer to the national spotlight, finally drawing attention and money months after Black senators, including Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Maryland’s Angela Alsobrooks, first urged donors and party leaders to see it as winnable.

The son of a onetime Republican who worked for President Ronald Reagan, Colom produced one of the year’s most widely circulated ads. After Hyde-Smith seemed to brush off high beef prices by saying consumers could choose other proteins, Colom cut a 30-second spot depicting incredulous voters saying they’d “pick another senator instead.”

When Trump came to Corinth, Mississippi, in late October to rally with Hyde-Smith, Colom walked the line of Trump supporters as they waited to enter. He introduced himself and asked about their concerns.

Trump administration wants to sell public lands and shrink the federal estate

President Donald Trump’s administration wants to sell public lands to states, tribes and local governments as part of an effort to “decrease the size of the federal estate,” according to a new plan presented by the Interior Department.

Agency officials said the sale of federal property would allow the government to focus resources on “nationally significant” lands, which were not defined. They offered no details on what parcels could be sold, nor the scope or location of potential sales.

The proposal drew quick pushback from some lawmakers, including Trump’s former Interior secretary, Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, showing it faces strong headwinds in Congress even before Democrats assume the majority in January.

The Interior Department’s five-year strategic plan also calls for land transfers and exchanges to support greater energy production, a centerpiece of the administration’s pro-fossil fuel policies. It reflects the Trump administration’s view of most public lands as assets to be used, rather than to be set aside for preservation.

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Mississippi elects Democrat Scott Colom as state’s first Black US senator since Reconstruction

Democratic nominee Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot-counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction.

Colom’s narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi, which has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations despite having the largest share of Black residents of any U.S. state. The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states, and it will bolster some Democrats’ argument that their future runs through the American South.

“All I did was have the courage to imagine a night like this,” Colom told a crowd of hundreds who gathered at Tougaloo College for his victory party. “I had the courage to believe in Mississippi. I had the courage to understand that we can show the country that Mississippi matters.”

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