Democrat Scott Colom will win a US Senate seat in deep-red Mississippi, CNN projects

By Fredreka Schouten (CNN) — Scott Colom will defeat GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a major upset to become the first Democrat that voters in deep-red Mississippi have elected to the chamber in more than four decades, CNN’s Decision Desk projects. Colom, 43, also will become the first Black person elected to statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. His win in a Republican stronghold underscores the grim environment the GOP faced in the midterms, as voters grappled with a war overseas and high prices at home, and further expands Democrats’ incoming Senate majority. Colom, a local district attorney, centered his campaign on affordability issues, labeling Hyde-Smith “Cindy High Prices.” The campaign also produced one of the most attention-getting ads of the midterms by mocking a Hyde-Smith comment that there are “so many proteins to choose from” when she was asked about rising beef prices. “Pick another protein?

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