With four days until Election Day, Mississippi’s Senate race remains unresolved, challenging election forecasters who didn’t expect the race to be this close.
Most prognosticators rated the contest as solid or likely Republican, although the final poll, taken Oct. 21-22, showed Democrat Scott Colom trailing Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by just three points, within the margin of error.
That poll by Change Research turned out to be completely accurate, with Colom now holding a 2,574-vote lead in a race where nearly a million Mississippians voted.
Colom said he was confident in his ability to win, despite his slim advantage.
“Anyone who knows mathematics knows that this is going in our direction,” he told reporters Friday.
Hyde-Smith released a statement Friday afternoon saying “this election is not over.”
“We are not backing down,” his campaign said. “Our team is working across Mississippi to monitor remaining ballots and protect the integrity of the process. We will make it through to the end!”
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said Friday there are just over 3,000 mail-in ballots that still need to be processed. These ballots can legally be received by authorities until November 10, provided they are postmarked by Election Day.
There are also outstanding provisional ballots cast by voters whose eligibility cannot be immediately verified during the election. These ballots are set aside and examined before being counted. The exact number remains unknown, although the Colom campaign estimates there could be as many as 15,000.
If Colom wins, he would be the first black U.S. senator to represent Mississippi since Reconstruction.
He would also be the state’s first black senator elected by popular vote, with Mississippi’s two previous black senators having been elected by the state legislature before the 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, established the direct election of U.S. senators.
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