Mississippi Senate Race Hinges on 43-Vote Gap

The U.S. Senate race in Mississippi remains undecided as of early Tuesday morning, November 4.

Election officials reported that 95.6% of votes were counted by 3 a.m. local time.

Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 43 votes.

Colom has received 462,821 ballots, while Hyde-Smith has received 462,778.

Independent candidate Ty Pinkins has collected 19,935 votes.

The narrow margin leaves the final outcome pending the count of remaining precincts.

Both candidates addressed supporters at watch parties without declaring a winner.

Hyde-Smith stated, "We are in a very good lead right now." She added, "We still don't have all the votes in, so we're not calling all of it tonight, but we're in a very good lead, and I assure you I will continue to be your U.S. Senator."

Colom told his crowd, "I'm telling you, deep down in my soul, I believe we're about to show the country Mississippi matters."

He concluded his remarks with, "God bless you all. Good night. See you later. We're going to win."

Because this is a general congressional contest, no runoff election is scheduled.

The candidate with the highest total vote count will secure the Senate seat.