Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000 votes
With 96% of ballots counted, thousands of absentee and affidavit votes remain, and a win would end a four‑decade Democratic drought in the state.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Nigel Farage speaks and gestures passionately at a podium in front of a Union flag.
Photograph: BBC News (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Democrat Scott Colom leads incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde‑Smith by just over 1,000 votes with 96% of ballots counted.
- Around 3,600 absentee ballots and several thousand affidavit ballots remain uncounted, postponing a final result.
- A Colom victory would end more than 40 years without a Democratic senator from Mississippi.
- The race highlights Hyde‑Smith’s earlier block of Colom’s federal judgeship nomination.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 9 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 1 of the 10 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
60/100
Craft
65/100
Hype
45/100
10 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
Only 1 of the 9 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Mississippi’s U.S. Senate contest has tightened to a margin of just over 1,000 votes, with Democrat Scott Colom ahead of Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde‑Smith as of Thursday morning. The count stands at 96% of total votes, according to the state’s secretary of state.
Secretary of State Michael Watson said roughly 3,600 absentee ballots and several thousand affidavit ballots are still outstanding. State law provides no automatic recount for such a narrow gap, and candidates may not request a recount, leaving the final outcome dependent on the remaining votes.
Colom’s campaign noted an “army of lawyers” is monitoring the count to ensure legal compliance, and the candidate said he is “very happy with where we stand.” The incumbent’s campaign expressed confidence that a full count will reaffirm Hyde‑Smith’s re‑election.
“"I am very happy with where we stand," Colom said.”
Reported vote margin
The BBC reported that Colom leads by just over 1,000 votes, while Thought Catalog gave a figure of roughly 1,700 votes. Both outlets agree the race is extremely close, but they differ on the exact size of the lead.
3,600
Outstanding absentee ballots
Number reported by Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson
What the coverage left out
None of the left‑rated digests mention the 3,600 absentee ballots that remain outstanding. The right‑rated digest does not note that Mississippi has not elected a Democratic senator in over 40 years.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 5 Nov 2026, 21:30, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
6 rated outlets
- Five left‑rated outlets, Raw Story, TVA Nouvelles, The Advocate, theGrio and them, all highlighted the irony that Hyde‑Smith previously blocked Colom’s federal judgeship nomination and that his current lead could reverse that outcome. They stressed the historic nature of a potential Democratic win after more than four decades and framed the race as a surprise victory for the Democratic Party.
Centre
2 rated outlets
- The BBC’s full report led on the precise vote count, the 96% tally, and the exact number of absentee and affidavit ballots still pending. It noted the lack of automatic recounts and quoted political scientists and campaign officials about the need to count every vote. The Hill’s digest reinforced the narrow lead and the presence of thousands of mail ballots.
Right
1 rated outlet
- Times of India’s digest focused on the procedural “Blue Slip” controversy, describing the race as a messy episode for the GOP and emphasizing how the Senate’s informal tradition could affect future judicial nominations.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000…?
- Of the 9 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 67% are rated left, 22% are rated centre, 11% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 10. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000… left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 9 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000… biased?
- Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000 votes is one event reported by 10 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000…?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Democrat Scott Colom leads Mississippi Senate race by just over 1,000…?
- 10 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- How large is Scott Colom's lead over Cindy Hyde‑Smith?
- The BBC says the lead is just over 1,000 votes, while Thought Catalog reports it as roughly 1,700 votes. Both sources agree the margin is narrow and the race remains undecided.
- What ballots are still pending in the Mississippi Senate count?
- Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson reported about 3,600 absentee ballots and several thousand affidavit ballots are still outstanding, meaning the final result will not be known until those are counted.
- Why is this race historically significant for Mississippi?
- A victory for Colom would end more than four decades without a Democratic senator from Mississippi, a state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1989.
- What procedural issue does the Times of India highlight?
- The Times of India digest draws attention to the Senate’s “Blue Slip” tradition, an informal process that lets home‑state senators influence federal judicial nominations, and describes the race as a messy development for the GOP.
Read it at the source
10 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
6- Democrat expands lead in Mississippi Senate race (opens Daily Kos in a new tab)
- ‘Fun fact’: Dana Bash amused as GOP senator's Biden-era block may now cost her Senate seat (opens Raw Story in a new tab)
Raw Story — is Raw Story biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Mid-Term Elections: Scott Colom, the Mississippi Democrat Who Could Sign a Surprise Victory (opens TVA Nouvelles in a new tab)
TVA Nouvelles — is TVA Nouvelles biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Scott Colom could make history in Mississippi after facing off against the senator who blocked his judicial nomination (opens theGrio in a new tab)
- Cindy Hyde-Smith Blocked Scott Colom From Becoming a Judge for Being Pro-Trans. Now, He Might Take Her Senate Seat (opens them in a new tab)
- Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked Scott Colom from becoming a judge for being pro-trans. Now, he might take her Senate seat (opens The Advocate in a new tab)
The Advocate — is The Advocate biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
2Right
1Not rated
1How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
