Mississippi’s Senate race remained too close to call Friday morning, with Democrat Scott Colom leading Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,813 votes, according to the Associated Press. Colom, who would become the state’s first Black U.S. senator since 1881, said he is confident he will win once all ballots are counted.

Independent candidate Ty Pinkins was drawing approximately 2 percent of the vote, a share that could prove decisive in the narrow contest, according to the AP. County officials continued processing outstanding ballots Friday, ahead of the Nov. 13 certification deadline.

With 96 percent of votes counted statewide, the Associated Press estimated Colom held 466,775 votes to Hyde-Smith’s 464,962.

Colom, speaking at a Nov. 4 news conference in Jackson, said he was confident in his position. “I am very happy with where we stand. I’m confident once the process lays out, where we are, where the ballots are, we’re gonna win,” he said, pledging to “protect the process” and ensure election law was followed.

Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, Jake Monssen, said the campaign was monitoring the count. “We remain confident that when every legally cast vote is fully and accurately counted, Mississippians will have reelected Cindy Hyde-Smith,” Monssen said, thanking election workers.

The race carries historical weight. Colom, a former district attorney, seeks to become Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Blanche K. Bruce left office in 1881. The outcome in Hattiesburg, a center of the state’s civil rights movement, has drawn national attention.

Colom’s performance in Forrest County marked a significant shift. The county, named for Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Ku Klux Klan’s first Grand Wizard, backed President Donald Trump by 18 points in 2024. With 97 percent of ballots counted there, Colom led Hyde-Smith 54 percent to 44 percent, according to Yahoo News. The 29-point swing toward Democrats provided a critical boost for Colom in a state Trump carried by nearly 23 points in 2024.

The flip follows a 2025 special election in which Democrat Johnny DuPree won a Republican-held state Senate seat covering parts of Forrest and Lamar counties, defeating Anna Rush with 69.2 percent of the vote.

Forrest County’s courthouse grounds hold a Confederate monument erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1910. It stands opposite a monument to Vernon Dahmer, the local NAACP leader who helped Black residents register to vote. Klansmen attacked Dahmer’s home with gunfire and firebombs in January 1966; he died from his injuries. His monument bears the words: “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.”

In a 2020 countywide referendum, voters rejected moving the Confederate monument by 15,706 votes to 14,908, according to county records. Support for relocation varied sharply by precinct, with as many as 85 percent of Hattiesburg voters favoring removal and nearly 80 percent in the Dixie area opposing it.

Deborah Delgado, a Black member of the Hattiesburg City Council, referenced Dahmer’s killing in comments about the monument. “That just cause resulted in the murder of this man who was pursuing civil rights. And then we let this thing that caused his murder continue to stand,” Delgado said.

Some residents have proposed renaming the county by removing one “r,” changing Forrest County to “Forest County” without altering the pronunciation.

The figures remain unofficial as counties process outstanding ballots for a second full day. The AP has not called the race. Both campaigns were contacted for comment Friday morning.