Trump handed yet another midterms blow as Democrats win Mississippi senator for first time in decades

Résumé détaillé

Scott Colom has been elected as Mississppi's first Democrat senator since 1947 and he is also the state's first black senator since the Reconstruction Era of the late 1800s

Donald Trump has been given another midterms blow after the Democrats pulled off a stunning upset in Mississippi. Scott Colom is the first Democratic Senator in the state since the 1940s.

Colom, a prosecutor, defeated Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith on Wednesday (November 11) in Mississippi’s closely contested US Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first black US senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction. Colom’s narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi.

It has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations, despite having the largest share of black residents of any US state. The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states like Texas and Georgia, and it will bolster some Democrats’ argument that their future runs through the American South.

Ms Hyde-Smith was magnanimous in defeat. The 67-year-old said in a two-minute concession speech posted online: “While this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters. “I want to congratulate Scott Colom and wish him well as he takes on the tremendous responsibility of representing our great state.”

A spokesman for the senator said she called Colom to congratulate him and concede before the video was shared publicly. Colom scheduled a victory celebration with supporters Wednesday night in Jackson.

The last time Mississippi chose a new Democratic senator was 1947, and the winner then was a staunch segregationist. Colom, a 43-year-old local prosecutor, capitalized on the large black population, discontent with the economy and Hyde-Smith’s missteps as she sought a second full term.

“They actually deserve a senator that will listen to them, that actually cares about what they think, actually cares about what they’re going through,” Colom said in the campaign’s closing stretch.

“It’s got to be about having a party that represents rural…

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