Colom, Hyde-Smith separated by 43 votes in Mississippi Senate race

The race for the U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi is nearly decided, with the top two candidates separated by a margin of 43 votes.

At 3 a.m., 95.6% of the ballots were tallied. Democrat Scott Colom had 462,821 votes. Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith had 462,778. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins received 19,935 votes.

The contest began as a general congressional election, meaning the candidate with the most votes will take the seat. No runoff election is scheduled.

Hyde-Smith spoke to supporters at a watch party in Biloxi. She described the campaign as good and said her team was in a strong lead. "We still don't have all the votes in, so we're not calling all of it tonight," Hyde-Smith said. "But we're in a very good lead, and I assure you I will continue to be your U.S. Senator."

Colom also addressed his watch party. He said he believed Mississippi would demonstrate its importance to the nation. "Deep down in my soul, I believe we're about to show the country Mississippi matters," Colom said. "We're going to win."

Neither candidate declared an explicit victory before the final count. Both stated they expected to serve as the state's senator in the coming days.