ISLAMABAD — In a historic upset, Democrat Scott Colom has won his US Senate race in traditionally conservative Mississippi, networks projected Wednesday, making him the first African American elected to the chamber from the southern state in more than 140 years. Colom, a 43-year-old district attorney, prevailed over Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in perhaps the most extraordinary seat flip of an already extraordinary US midterm election , in which Democrats crushed the Republicans to reclaim the majority in both chambers of Congress.
In a prayerful and solemn speech, Colom praised Mississippi’s long tradition of Black activism and faith in progress. “Mississippi, our prayers have often changed the course of history,” Colom told the jubilant crowd of his supporters in Jackson on Wednesday night. “God didn’t want us to get it the easy way.
He wanted us to get it the Mississippi way.” Colom’s win in the deep South adds sting to the stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump as voters around the country shunned his Republican Party, even in states that had not sent a Democrat to Washington in decades. The latest win, called Wednesday by US news outlets that included CNN, NBC and CBS, will give Democrats 55 seats in the 100-member Senate, with 44 for Republicans and one race — in the state of Alaska — still outstanding. The midterms result was a personal humiliation for 80-year-ol