Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith could lose her U.S. Senate seat to Democratic district attorney Scott Colom once 100 percent of the votes are in — a striking turn for a lawmaker who previously blocked Colom's nomination to a federal judgeship under former President Joe Biden.

The race remained too close to call Wednesday as NBC News' Steve Kornacki worked through the outstanding data. Early Wednesday morning, Colom held a lead of roughly 50 votes, which narrowed to about 35 and then stood at 43. With roughly 44,000 ballots still outstanding, a margin measured in dozens leaves nearly every remaining batch of votes with the potential to shape the final result.

"Listen, there's like, Lowndes County, 1,200 votes left. Colom is winning that by about 16 points, so he'll net votes from there," said Kornacki. "Jackson County, we've got about 1,600 votes. Hyde-Smith — they probably cancel each other out. I'm seeing a lot of counties that will probably cancel each other out. And the big thing that's jumping out at this is that the most remaining vote is in Hinds County. And of all the counties where there's remaining vote, where there's significant remaining vote, it's the one where a candidate has the most lopsided advantage. You know, Colom leading that by 60 points."

That math led Kornacki to conclude that Colom was positioned to prevail. "With a giant number that is left there. And then for the remaining vote there, elsewhere, to either be a wash or somewhat erode — yeah. You're looking at, really, a possibility here of Colom, the Democrat, winning this race," he said. "Wow. Wow. With what's left there, Colom could actually win this."

Justin Slaughter, a former Democratic advisor now working at Paradigm, noted that Mississippi is the only state with no recount laws on the books, meaning that if a race is close, there is no automatic trigger to recount the ballots — a detail that carries particular weight in a contest separated by only dozens of votes.

Mississippi has not elected a Democratic senator since 1982, a streak spanning more than four decades, and its strongly conservative electorate gave Hyde-Smith a significant structural advantage. Colom, however, ran a distinctive campaign, shaking hands with voters everywhere he went — including supporters of President Donald Trump lined up outside a MAGA rally.

Counting has been slow. Officials still had provisional ballots to verify and count, and Mississippi accepts mail-in ballots for five days after Election Day, which caused a hefty delay. The Decision Desk said there are likely 44,000 votes still to be counted. With provisional ballots still under verification and the state's five-day mail-in window open, a definitive outcome could remain unsettled for days, and attention will stay fixed on whether the remaining batches — led by Hinds County — confirm or upend Kornacki's math.

Primary sources: Alternet — Mississippi Senate race, Live coverage on YouTube, Post on X (@JBSDC)

Source: Alternet