Driving the news: The Associated Press projected the race in Colom on Wednesday, giving Democrats a historic upset over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
In figures: An Axios analysis of PA county returns found Colom led in 16 of 18 counties in the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.
- Colom received about 100,000 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 62,000, an advantage of 38,000 votes.
- In 2020, Democrat Mike Espy won 15 of those counties by about 25,000 votes, according to certified Mississippi county results. Colom’s share of the two-party vote increased from about 56% to 62%.
- Statewide, Colom led Hyde-Smith by about 4,700 votes out of more than 962,000 counted when the AP called the race Wednesday — a margin of about half a percentage point.
What they say: “Mississippi voters made history because they refused to be intimidated, discouraged or excluded,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
Zoom: Colom’s electoral map traces some of the most painful and defining chapters in black American history.
- Coahoma County: This is home to Clarksdale and the famous intersection associated with the legend that bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. Colom led with about 4,700 votes to 1,300.
- Leflore and Tallahatchie Counties: Emmett Till was kidnapped near Money in Leflore County in 1955. His body was found in the Tallahatchie River in Tallahatchie County, where an all-white jury acquitted his killers. Colom led by about 4,200 votes in Leflore and 1,300 in Tallahatchie, according to AP results.
- Sunflower County: Fannie Lou Hamer, who lived in Ruleville, challenged Mississippi’s racist voting restrictions. By the spring of 1965, only 155 black residents had registered to vote in the county, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Colom led with about 5,300 votes to 1,700.
- Washington County: Robert F. Kennedy visited Greenville during his 1967 tour of poverty in the Delta. 29.4% of Washington County is still in poverty, according to the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 estimate. Colom led with about 8,700 votes to 2,400.
Zoom out: Colom didn’t suddenly turn the Delta blue. Espy won most of it in 2020. But Colom widened the Democratic margin.
- In DeSoto County, which is part of the heritage area but outside the historic heart of the Delta, Colom led by about 3,300 votes. Hyde-Smith won there by around 12,100 in 2020.
- Colom also swept the Golden Triangle counties of Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Clay, his home region in northeast Mississippi. He won all three by double-digit margins and improved on Espy’s 2020 performance.
Between the lines: The historical symbolism extends beyond the Delta.
- Colom led by about 12,100 votes to 9,700 in Forrest County, named for Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
- Hyde-Smith faced criticism during her run against Espy in 2018 after saying she would sit in the front row if invited to a public hanging. She then apologized to those offended.
The bottom line: The region where black Mississippians fought some of America’s fiercest battles for voting rights helped elect the state’s first black U.S. senator in 145 years — and raised a new question.
- Can political representation finally bring economic change to the Delta?
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