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Scott Colom, the Black Democrat who claimed a stunning Senate win in Mississippi
Scott Colom, a 43-year-old Democratic prosecutor, has won Mississippi’s Senate race by 5,900 votes after several days of counting. His victory is a major political upset: no Democrat had won a Senate seat in the state since 1982, and Colom is its first Black US senator since the Reconstruction era, nearly 150 years ago.
A viral campaign video helped turn Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith’s comment about rising meat prices into a liability, with Colom’s campaign urging voters to “pick another protein”. Mississippi’s history of Jim Crow laws restricted Black voting and political representation for decades. In 2022, Hyde-Smith had also blocked Colom’s nomination to a federal judgeship.
In short
- Scott Colom won Mississippi’s Senate race by 5,900 votes.
- He is the state’s first Black US senator in nearly 150 years.
- A viral ad highlighted his opponent’s remark about meat prices.
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