Mississippi has elected its first Black senator in more than 140 years after Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in Wednesday’s midterm election.
According to The Associated Press, Colom secured the victory by a narrow margin after more than a week of ballot counting following the November 3 election.
His election marks a historic milestone for Mississippi, where the last Black man to serve in the US Senate was born into slavery and left office in 1881.
Colom’s victory makes him the first Black person elected to represent the state in the Senate since the Reconstruction era, which followed the American Civil War.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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