‘Where Is Cindy Hyde-Smith?’ Scott Colom Says GOP Incumbent Must Explain Her Path to Victory

As Democratic US Senate candidate Scott Colom's lead over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith surpassed 2,000 votes in the too-close-to-call race in Mississippi—a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to the upper chamber since 1982, the year Colom was born—the candidate expressed frustration that Hyde-Smith has been nowhere to be seen during the ballot-counting process.

Colom told CNN that he has faith in the tallying of votes, in which provisional and affidavit ballots are now being counted, but urged Hyde-Smith to speak publicly and suggested she should be ready to concede.

"Ultimately, at some point, the senator needs to speak out. Where is Cindy Hyde-Smith?... Why can't she speak for herself? Why's she got to have Chairman Hurst speaking for her?" said Colom, referring to state Republican Party Chairman Mike Hurst.

Hurst said Thursday that "there is no election denying going on here" and affirmed that Republicans will accept a victory by Colom, who would be the state's first Black senator elected since 1870, during Reconstruction, "if the laws are followed."

"We want to hear from her," added Colom. "What is her path to victory? She doesn't have one. Chairman Hurst knows that, I know that, the people of Mississippi have spoken, we all know where this is going."

The Associated Press reported late Friday morning that Colom's lead had grown to 2,010 votes.

Hyde-Smith and her allies had believed that as affidavit and provisional ballots were counted, she would surpass the district attorney, but the Mississippi Free Press reported that Colom's lead has only gotten larger as each new batch of votes has been tallied.

More mail-in absentee ballots could still arrive before their deadline of November 10, which is also the last day of counting for affidavit ballots, which were cast by voters who did not bring their ID to the polls and had to identify themselves to their circuit clerk’s office before their vote would be counted.

Many of the absentee ballots that have yet to be counted are from Hinds County, which includes the heavily Democratic and majority-Black capital city of Jackson.

The Mississippi Free Press reported Friday that Colom's lead among the affidavit ballots cast in Chickasaw County was 55.2 points, and he has overperformed on affidavit ballots that were cast in counties that Hyde-Smith won overall.

In Itawamba County, the Republican senator leads by 65.8 points, but "her lead among affidavit ballots is substantially lower, at 46 points, meaning Colom is significantly overperforming in the county’s affidavit ballots."

More than 95% of all votes have been counted, according to The New York Times. Political observers saw Colom's victory in Forrest County, named for Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest and carried by President Donald Trump by 18 points in 2024, as one sign that the Democrat could win the election.

On Thursday, lawyers for Colom's campaign cautioned county election commissioners and circuit clerks in Mississippi against following a demand by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) that they segregate affidavit ballots in preparation for a potential legal challenge.

"Those demands have no basis in Mississippi law, and if you depart from ordinary election procedures as you have been asked to do, you will violate Mississippi voters’ rights and Mississippi election law," wrote Jacquelyn Lopez with the Elias Law Group.

The state Supreme Court has barred election officials from changing election procedures during vote-counting, and the separation of affidavit ballots could result in ballots being separated from their envelopes, putting voters' right to a secret ballot in jeopardy, said the Colom campaign.

Gerard Henderson, Colom's campaign manager, called the NRSC demand "a desperate stunt" and said it was "what you do when you know you’re about to lose a race."

"We’re confident that when every lawful ballot is counted, Scott Colom will be Mississippi’s next US senator,” Henderson said.

Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman noted Wednesday that Colom would "likely be a federal judge right now—not [Hyde-Smith's] opponent—if not for the fact that she blocked [President Joe] Biden's nomination of him over his support for trans rights."

Hyde-Smith blocked Biden's nomination of Colom to be US District Court Judge for the Northern District of Mississippi in 2023, citing his "opposition to legislation to protect female athletes."

Colom had not stated any views on which teams transgender student athletes should play on at the time. In 2021 he signed a letter opposing “ongoing efforts to criminalize transgender people and gender-affirming healthcare across the country."

"If she loses to Scott Colom," said Pittman, "Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will have helped set her own defeat in motion."