Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 65 votes in Mississippi’s Senate race, and there will be no Mississippi Senate recount unless a judge orders one. State law sets no automatic recount and gives candidates no right to ask for one, according to the Associated Press’s pre-election guide to the state.
What decides this race instead is a calendar written into the Mississippi Code. Mail ballots, affidavit ballots, county certification and any court fight each have a fixed deadline. The last of them falls in early December.
A 65-vote lead with about 43,000 ballots to go
The count barely moved on Wednesday. Colom had 462,821 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 462,778 in the 3 a.m. count, WLBT reported. Independent Ty Pinkins had 19,935, or 2.1%, WDAM reported.
By 1:05 p.m. Eastern, a few dozen more votes had been added.
The AP’s results page showed Colom at 462,857, Hyde-Smith at 462,792 and Pinkins at 19,938, a 65-vote lead. About 96% of votes were counted. NBC News showed 945,587 votes counted at the same time. It estimated about 43,000 remain and still rated the race too close to call.
The lead is less than seven thousandths of a percentage point of the votes counted. Against the ballots still out, it is about 0.15%. NBC calculates that Hyde-Smith needs 49% of the remaining vote to catch up.
Our own check agrees. If Pinkins keeps his 2.1% share of what remains, Hyde-Smith needs about 21,080 of the 43,000, a hair over half of the two-party remainder.
Colom took the lead late, on returns from Hinds County and majority-Black counties in the Delta and southwest Mississippi, The Mississippi Independent reported. Hinds alone gave him 61,793 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 14,702.
Mail ballots and affidavit IDs are due Nov. 10
Two kinds of ballot are still out, and both have the same deadline.
Under Section 23-15-637, a mail-in absentee ballot counts if it carries an Election Day postmark and reaches the circuit clerk within five business days. The Secretary of State’s office puts that at Tuesday, Nov. 10, and its 2026 elections calendar sets the cutoff at 5 p.m.
The state had received 116,453 absentee ballots by Monday, MPB News reported, citing the Secretary of State.
Affidavit ballots are the bigger unknown. Voters cast them when their name is missing from the poll book or they lack photo ID. The Colom campaign estimated 10,000 to 15,000 remain statewide, according to Mississippi Today as cited by WLBT. That is a campaign figure, not an official one.
Voters who lacked ID can still cure their ballot.
Under Section 23-15-573, they have five business days to show photo ID at the circuit clerk’s office, or sign an affidavit of religious objection. The state calendar puts that deadline at 5 p.m. on Nov. 10 too.
County election commissioners then rule on each affidavit ballot. They count it or not “as it appears legal,” the statute says.
That gives both campaigns a reason to find their own voters this week. Each affidavit voter who returns with ID before the cutoff adds a vote that would otherwise not count.
Counties certify Nov. 13, and the state declares by Dec. 3
County election commissions must send certified returns to the Secretary of State within 10 days of the election, under Section 23-15-603. For this election that is Friday, Nov. 13. The statute says certified county totals “shall represent the final results of the election.”
The Secretary of State then tallies the county statements and declares the winner, under Section 23-15-605. That must happen within 30 days of the election. The state calendar lists Thursday, Dec. 3 as the declaration date.
There is no runoff. A plurality wins a federal general election in Mississippi, the Mississippi Free Press reported, so a final lead of even one vote decides it.
How a candidate can still challenge the result
Without a recount right, the trailing candidate has two tools in the code.
The first is a ballot box examination. Under Section 23-15-911, a candidate or an authorized representative may inspect a box and its contents.
The request must come within 12 days of the county canvass, with three days’ notice to opponents. A circuit clerk watches to make sure nobody removes or tampers with anything. The clerk then reseals the box.
If a county canvasses on the Nov. 13 deadline, that window runs to Nov. 25.
The second is an election contest in court. Section 23-15-951 gives a challenger 20 days after the election to file a petition with the circuit clerk, which for this race is Monday, Nov. 23.
The state Supreme Court’s chief justice assigns a judge from another district, and a jury decides who received “the greatest number of legal votes.” WDAM and HuffPost both report that a recount needs a judge. We found no separate recount statute, so a contest like this is the likely vehicle for one.
The statute’s wording covers offices “within any county,” and we could not find a ruling on how it applies to a statewide federal seat.
The US Senate also has the final word. The Constitution makes each chamber “the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members,” in Article I, Section 5. The new Senate is sworn in on Jan. 3, 2027.
Both candidates say they will win
Hyde-Smith spoke to supporters at her election-night party on Tuesday. “This is a much longer night than we thought it would be,” she said, adding, “I assure you I will continue to be your U.S. senator,” Straight Arrow News reported.
Colom gave a campaign update on Wednesday morning. “Anyone who can look at the math should be able to know where this is going,” he said, according to WLOX. “We’ve got lawyers ready to make sure the law is followed.” Asked about Hyde-Smith’s Tuesday-night remarks, he said, “bless her heart.”
The race also sets the size of the new Democratic majority. Democrats have already won control of the Senate, so Mississippi and Alaska decide only its margin. Our pre-election guide to the Senate races to watch set out the paths to a majority.
The AP says it calls a race only when no scenario lets the trailing candidate catch up, according to its guide.
With a lead this narrow, that call may wait until counties finish affidavit ballots after the Nov. 10 cutoff. It could take until they certify on Nov. 13.
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