GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will face off against Democrat Scott Colom in November in Mississippi, with NBC News projecting that both have won their respective primaries on Tuesday.
It will be a difficult race for Colom, a district attorney. A Democrat has not won a Senate race in Mississippi since 1982 and President Donald Trump won the state by 23 points in 2024. And Ty Pinkins, who was the Democratic Senate nominee against GOP Sen. Roger Wicker in 2024, is running for Senate again, but as an independent.
But some Democrats, including Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairwoman Kirsten Gillibrand, have suggested that Colom could be a strong candidate. It also won’t be the first time Hyde-Smith and Colom have clashed: the GOP senator blocked Colom’s nomination for a federal judgeship during the Biden administration.
Colom told NBC News ahead of his campaign launch in September that he forgave Hyde-Smith but remained “frustrated with how she votes,” pointing to Hyde-Smith’s support for Trump’s signature tax cut and spending legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.
Trump endorsed Hyde-Smith ahead of Tuesday’s primary, but she still faced a challenge from Republican Sarah Adlakha.
A physician who largely self-funded her campaign, Adlakha launched ads Hyde-Smith of being beholden to special interests, while Hyde-Smith accused Adlakha of being a Chicago liberal and touted her endorsement from Trump.
The primary did force Hyde-Smith to spend some of her campaign funds, spending $2.4 million on the race as of Feb. 18, according to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Colom has also spent in the race despite facing a nominal challenge for the Democratic nomination.
Hyde-Smith still had a financial advantage in the contest, with $2.2 million in her campaign account to Colom’s $560,000.
Hyde-Smith is running for her second full term in the Senate. She was appointed to the seat in 2018 to replace former GOP Sen. Thad Cochran, and won a special election against former Democratic Rep. Mike Espy, who also served as Agriculture Secretary, to serve out the rest of Cochran’s term. Hyde-Smith won her first full term in the Senate in 2020, defeating Espy again, this time by 10 points, as Trump carried the state by 16 points.
