Less than 2,000 votes separate Democrat Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the race for a Mississippi U.S. Senate seat, and questions are mounting about whether a recount could determine the winner. But unlike nearly every other state, Mississippi has no recount process, leaving election challenges to be fought through litigation.
The race still hasn’t been called two days after the midterm elections that saw a blue wave sweep congressional, gubernatorial and statewide races across the country. Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate and House, with several surprising flips in traditionally Republican states contributing to the result, such as Democrat James Talarico winning Texas’ U.S.
Senate seat, and Democrat Annie Andrews winning South Carolina’s. In Mississippi, as of early Thursday afternoon, Colom led by 1,724 votes, about one-tenth of a percentage point, according to the . Roughly 95 percent of the votes have been tallied.
The close race is unusual for Mississippi, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1982, when John Stennis was reelected. President Donald Trump won the state in all three of his campaigns, including by more than 20 points over Kamala Harris in 2024. Trump endorsed Hyde-Smith and rallied with her ahead of the midterms.
While the narrow margin might trigger a recount elsewhere in the U.S., Mississippi does not have a recount procedure. State law allows a candidate to examine ballots, and while those results could act as evidence to support a claim, it is equivalent to public records access and does not count as a state-sanctioned recount, Michael Morley, the faculty director of Florida State University’s Election Law Center, told Newsweek on Thursday. Should a candidate contest the results of the Mississippi race, they have two paths forward: appeal to the U.S.
Senate or attempt to get their case heard by the federal court. Constitution says the Senate itself is the ultimate judge,” Morley said. Senate would then conduct its own recount, which would be done by the new Senate taking office in January, Morley said, which will have a Democratic majority.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
