A Senator Who Once Joked About a 'Public Hanging' Just Lost to Mississippi's First Black Senator in 145 Years

Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Mississippi Republican who once said she would sit 'on the front row' at a 'public hanging', has lost her Senate seat to Democrat Scott Colom.

Colom becomes Mississippi's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era, and the first Black senator the state's voters have ever elected directly.

The Associated Press called the race for Colom on Wednesday based on unofficial results, a little over a week after Election Day, Roll Call reported.

Colom won 49.2 per cent of the vote to Hyde-Smith's 48.7 per cent, a margin of just over 4,600 votes out of more than 960,000 cast. Independent Ty Pinkins took 2 per cent.

Colom celebrated on social media, writing: 'I'll work every day in the US Senate.' He pledged to build a future Mississippians can be proud to call home.

State's Voters Elected Colom Directly

Roll Call's report carried no statement from Hyde-Smith. As absentee and provisional ballots were counted, Colom said the senator had 'no path to victory'.

Earlier this year, the senator drew criticism when, asked about rising beef prices, she said people had 'so many proteins to choose from', Roll Call noted. Colom turned the line into a viral ad in which a man replies: 'I'd rather pick another senator instead.'

Colom has served as district attorney for four counties in north-east Mississippi since 2016. In 2022, Joe Biden nominated him for a federal judgeship, but Hyde-Smith effectively blocked the nomination by withholding her approval.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he had spent years recruiting Colom, telling him: 'You got to run.' Donald Trump headlined a rally for Hyde-Smith in Corinth on 26 October, but it was not enough.

History in Mississippi

Colom is the third Black man to represent Mississippi in the Senate. The first two, Republicans Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce, served during Reconstruction and were chosen by the state Legislature rather than by voters.

Bruce left office in 1881, meaning Mississippi has gone 145 years without a Black senator.

The result carries extra weight in a state with a long history of racial violence. Mississippi recorded more lynchings than any other state between 1882 and 1968, according to NAACP figures cited by NPR.

The 'Public Hanging' Remark

Hyde-Smith made her most notorious remark during her 2018 campaign. Praising a cattle rancher who supported her at a campaign stop in Tupelo on 2 November that year, she said: 'If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row.'

The video went viral days later, just before her runoff against Democrat Mike Espy, who is Black. Hyde-Smith called the comment an 'exaggerated expression of regard' and insisted that 'any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous'.

Espy's campaign called the remarks 'reprehensible', saying her words showed she 'lacks the understanding and judgment to represent the people of our state'. Hyde-Smith won the 2018 runoff and was re-elected to a full six-year term in 2020.

Her defeat is part of a Democratic wave. The party flipped eight Senate seats to win control, giving the Democratic caucus at least 55 seats and its largest majority since 2011, Roll Call reported. That could grow further in Alaska, where former Rep. Mary Peltola narrowly leads Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in a race that remains uncalled.