Special Report: Mississippi's Senate Race Comes Down to the Affidavit Pile — Colom's Lead Widens to About 2,600 as a Nov. 13 Deadline Looms
Democrat Scott Colom led Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,574 votes in Friday's unofficial count, up from about 1,100 on Thursday. Officials had reviewed 11,202 affidavit ballots by Friday afternoon; the number still awaiting review was not specified. A later Friday report put unreturned mail ballots at 2,857. Mississippi allows no recount. Lawyers from both parties are in the counting rooms. Here is the process watch.
By Clara Hughes
With every other Senate contest in the country decided except Alaska, the national spotlight has landed on 82 county election offices in Mississippi. This Special Report is the numbers-and-process desk for that count as it stood when this was written Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026 (Asia/Colombo evening / U.S. Saturday morning), based on Friday reporting. Altas is not calling this race. The margin, with a timestamp As of Friday, unofficial results showed Colom with 467,930 votes (49.1%) to 465,356 (48.8%) for Hyde-Smith, a 2,574-vote gap, with an estimated 96.9% of votes counted, WLBT reported. Independent Ty Pinkins had 20,028 votes (2.1%). Exa's election tracker, updated 6:02 p.m. EST Friday, showed the same totals. Decision Desk HQ's 7:41 p.m. EST Friday snapshot showed Colom at 468,339 and Hyde-Smith at 465,643 — a margin of 2,696. On Thursday, Altas reported Colom's lead at 1,138 votes in an ABC News count. The gap has more than doubled as absentee and