Mississippi GOP chair says party will accept Colom victory should he win

The chair of the Mississippi Republican Party said Thursday the party will accept Democrat Scott Colom’s victory if he pulls off a win against incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R).

“There is no election denying going on here. If the laws are followed and the voters spoke, that is it and Mississippi Republicans will accept that,” Mike Hurst told reporters during a press conference in a clip posted by C-SPAN on the social platform X .

“We are the party of law-abiding citizens, and if the voters speak and the law is followed, yes, absolutely,” the GOP chair added.

Colom has expanded his lead on the incumbent senator, leading by a little more than 1,800 votes, according to The Hill’s partner Decision Desk HQ . The Senate race in the historically red-leaning state has been tight with the Democrat leading by just 0.2 percentage points.

“We believe if the laws are followed to a T, and these 20,000 outstanding ballots are counted … Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith will be reelected,” Hurst told the press.

The state allows mail ballots to be counted and received up to five business days after the election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.

Ballots are still rolling in. A top election official in the state said Mississippi is waiting to see if roughly 3,600 outstanding ballots show up on time.

The Democrats had a stunning victory in the midterm elections, securing control of both the House and the Senate. The party will hold 54 Senate seats. Mississippi and Alaska are the two states where votes are still being counted, and if the Democrats win in both states, they could hold 56 seats in the upper chamber.