Mississippi Senate Race Still Uncalled: Scott Colom's Lead Over Cindy Hyde-Smith Grows to 2,574 Votes With 97 Percent Counted
Five days after Election Day, Mississippi's Senate race is still too close to call - but Democrat Scott Colom's lead over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith grew again Monday, to 2,574 votes with 97 percent of the vote counted.
Mississippi's Senate race remained uncalled on Monday, five days after Election Day, even as Democrat Scott Colom's lead over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith grew again. Monday afternoon's count, carried in the day's wire roundups read by the Politics Desk this cycle, put Colom ahead by 2,574 votes with 97 percent of the vote counted.
The race has been the country's slowest count. This station's Nov. 6 files carried the Associated Press count at 466,959 to 465,023 - a Colom lead of 1,936 - and then at 467,066 to 465,056, a lead of 2,010, with all precincts reporting and the race still too early to call, the fight then shifting to affidavit ballots. Monday's update moves the margin again, in the same direction, without moving the race into the called column.
Mississippi is one of two Senate races that had not been called as Congress returned to Washington on Monday for the lame-duck session. The incoming Senate stands at 54 seats for the Democratic caucus, a number this race - and the other uncalled contest - will settle in the days ahead.
A lead is not a result, and this story does not call the race. What would change it is the remaining count and the affidavit-ballot process both campaigns fought over last week. The Politics Desk will update this file when the count moves again or the race is called.
