Hyde-Smith concedes Mississippi Senate race to Democrat Scott Colom

Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has conceded Mississippi's U.S. Senate election to Democrat Scott Colom, ending a close contest that went more than a week without a declared winner.

A spokesperson for Hyde-Smith's campaign told the Mississippi Free Press that the senator called Colom late Wednesday afternoon to concede. In a video posted to her social media accounts, Hyde-Smith said she respects the decision of the state's voters and congratulated her opponent.

"While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," Hyde-Smith said, according to the Mississippi Free Press.

Gray News stations reported that the official results were announced just over a week after Election Day. Colom will be the first Black U.S. senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction, according to those reports.

Hyde-Smith, a former state senator and former state agriculture commissioner, was appointed to the Senate in 2018 following the death of Thad Cochran, the Mississippi Free Press reported. She won a special election that same year to finish his term and was elected to a full term in 2020. She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi.

Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst issued a statement congratulating Colom, WLBT reported. Hurst said Colom ran a good campaign, that Republicans respect the voters' decision, and thanked Hyde-Smith and her staff for their service.

The race also included independent candidate Ty Pinkins, who received about 20,000 votes, according to a report from WTVA distributed by Gray News. That outlet said the total was large enough to have tipped the result either way.

Pinkins told WTVA that he knew he could not win but stayed in the race, and that his aim was to help elect the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction. He said a poll indicated that about 70% of his supporters would be dissatisfied Republican voters, and that he deliberately avoided campaigning in majority-Black areas such as the Mississippi Delta.

"What I actually did was split the Republican vote," Pinkins told WTVA, saying most of his support came from counties including Harrison, DeSoto, Rankin, Madison and Jackson.

In her concession message, Hyde-Smith said that although her time in the Senate is coming to an end, her commitment to Mississippi will continue, the Mississippi Free Press reported.

Compiled by True News from reporting by WLBT, Mississippi Free Press, WCAX and WABI. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/985