Mississippi elects Scott Colom as first Black senator since 1874
The Democrat unseated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, and CNA reported the win puts his party at a 55-44 advantage in the Senate with Alaska still undecided.
Democrat Scott Colom has won a US Senate seat in Mississippi, defeating Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and becoming the first Black senator from the southern state in more than a century, according to media projections.
The result was projected on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported, which described it as a stunning upset in a state that votes heavily Republican. Mississippi is one of the 50 US states, in the South; each state elects two senators to the 100-seat chamber, which passes legislation and confirms presidential appointments.
Reuters and CNA reported that Colom is the first Black senator from Mississippi since 1874. The BBC said he is the first Black person elected to the US Senate from the state in over 140 years. The Associated Press and the South China Morning Post described him as the state's first Black US senator since Reconstruction, the period that followed the American Civil War.
CNA reported that the win gives the Democratic Party a 55-44 advantage in the Senate, with the result of the Senate race in Alaska yet to be determined.
The seat changed hands in the November 3 midterm elections. The South China Morning Post reported that the Mississippi result added to Democratic gains nationally against President Donald Trump's Republicans. Hyde-Smith was the Republican incumbent; Reuters, the AP and the BBC did not name her in their headlines, which led on Colom's place in the state's history.
How the reports differ
Reuters and CNA dated the milestone to 1874, while the Associated Press and the South China Morning Post placed it against Reconstruction and the BBC said more than 140 years. Only the South China Morning Post named Hyde-Smith as the defeated incumbent in its headline and called the result a stunning upset in a heavily Republican state; the others led on Colom's place in history. CNA alone gave the Senate arithmetic, reporting a 55-44 Democratic advantage with Alaska yet to be decided, and the South China Morning Post alone tied the result to the wider midterm losses for President Donald Trump's Republicans.
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