Primary elections were held on March 10. Facing minimal opposition, Hyde-Smith won the Republican nomination with 80.8% of the vote. Colom won the Democratic nomination with 73% of the vote against Marine veteran Albert Littell and Priscilla Williams-Till.
The results of the general election have been extremely close, with Colom leading Hyde-Smith by less than 2,000 votes as of November 5. If elected, Colom would be the first Democratic senator from Mississippi elected since 1982, and the first African-American senator from Mississippi since the election of Hiram R. Revels in 1870, during the Reconstruction era.
Background
Mississippi is generally considered to be a heavily red state. Black voters in the state, who comprise 40% of the state's voting population, tend to vote Democratic, though turnout among this group is traditionally low. For this election, there was a surge in that voting population. Democrats have not won a Senate election in Mississippi since 1982.
Mississippi is the only state which does not provide a mechanism for recounts. All ballots must be counted by November 13 in order for the election to be certified.
In 2022, District Attorney Scott Colom was nominated to the federal judgeship for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi by Joe Biden with backing of Republicans, including Mississippi's senior Senator Roger Wicker. However, Hyde-Smith effectively blocked the nomination in 2023 by announcing she would refuse to return her blue slip.
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
Cindy Hyde-Smith, incumbent U.S. senator
Eliminated in primary
Sarah Adlakha, physician
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
Scott Colom, district attorney for the 16th Judicial District of Mississippi (2016–present)
Eliminated in primary
Albert Littell, Marine Corps veteran
Priscilla Williams-Till, teacher and cousin of Emmett Till
Withdrawn
Ty Pinkins, lawyer, nominee for secretary of state in 2023, and nominee for U.S. Senate in 2024 (running as an Independent)
Third-party and independent candidates
Candidates
Declared
Ty Pinkins (Independent), lawyer, Democratic nominee for Secretary of State in 2023 and U.S. Senate in 2024
General election
Pre-election polls favored Hyde-Smith. Results on election night showed the race as being extremely close, with Colom ahead by only 28 votes shortly after midnight on November 4 with 96% of votes counted, growing over the course of the day to slightly over 1,000 votes. Roughly 3,600 mail-in ballots and potentially 15,000 provisional ballots were yet to be counted as of November 4.
Polling
Aggregate polls
Results
As of 2 PM on November 5, 2026, 96% of the expected votes have been tallied and the election remains a toss-up, with current vote totals given below.
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
DeSoto (largest municipality: Southaven)
Forrest (largest municipality: Hattiesburg)
Grenada (largest municipality: Grenada)
Lafayette (largest municipality: Oxford)
Madison (largest municipality: Madison)
Winston (largest municipality: Louisville)
Yalobusha (largest municipality: Water Valley)
Notes
Partisan clients
External links
Official campaign websites
Scott Colom (D)
Cindy Hyde-Smith (R)
Ty Pinkins (I)
