Special Report: Mississippi's Senate Count — 1,138 Votes, No Automatic Recount, and a Nov. 10 Mail Deadline
Democrat Scott Colom led Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes with about 96% in, ABC News reported early Thursday. Affidavit and absentee ballots remain. Mississippi has no automatic recount. Here is the process watch.
By Clara Hughes
The morning Altas opinion argued for counting every legal vote in Mississippi and Alaska. This Special Report is the numbers and process desk for Mississippi alone — as they stood when this was written Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, updating Wednesday night returns. The margin, with a timestamp As of Wednesday night into early Thursday, Democrat Scott Colom had 464,926 votes (49.0%) and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith had 463,788 (48.9%), a lead of 1,138 votes, with about 96% of the expected vote reporting, ABC News reported. Independent Ty Pinkins had 19,934 votes (2.1%), ABC said. CBS News, updating Thursday morning Eastern, said that at one point Wednesday morning just a few dozen votes separated the candidates, and that by early Thursday morning Colom led by just over 1,100 votes with about 96% in. No network had called the race as of those updates. That is a shock in a state