Scott Colom Flips Mississippi County Named After KKK Founder in Historic Senate Election

November 6, 2026 | Pulse Radio 96.1 — National & Political News

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Scott Colom has delivered a significant political upset in Mississippi, securing a majority of votes counted in Forrest County, a historically Republican stronghold named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the Confederate general, slave trader, and first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. The result marks a notable shift in a county with deep historical connections to the Confederacy and the civil rights movement, as Colom continues his closely contested statewide race against incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.

With approximately 97 percent of Forrest County’s votes counted as of November 5, Colom led Hyde-Smith by 54 percent to 44 percent. The result represents a 29-percentage-point shift toward Democrats compared with the 2024 presidential election, when President Donald Trump carried the county by a margin of 58 percent to 40 percent. The change is particularly significant given Forrest County’s longstanding Republican voting patterns and its complicated racial history.

Forrest County, which includes the majority-Black city of Hattiesburg and the University of Southern Mississippi, was named in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate military commander who became an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction. His legacy remains controversial because of his involvement in slavery, the Confederacy, and the violent white supremacist organization that terrorized Black Americans following the Civil War.

The county’s historical identity has remained a subject of public debate, particularly surrounding a Confederate monument outside the Forrest County Courthouse in Hattiesburg. Erected in 1910 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the monument has stood for more than a century despite repeated calls for its removal. In 2020, county residents narrowly rejected a proposal to relocate the monument, with approximately 51 percent voting against removal and 49 percent supporting it. Within Hattiesburg itself, however, roughly 85 percent of voters supported moving the monument, illustrating a sharp division between the city and the surrounding county.

Across from the Confederate monument stands a memorial honoring Vernon Dahmer, a Black civil rights activist who was murdered in 1966 after Ku Klux Klan members firebombed his home. Dahmer had dedicated much of his life to helping Black Mississippians register to vote during an era when discriminatory laws, intimidation, and violence prevented many African Americans from exercising their constitutional rights. His memorial features his words, “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.” His wife, Ellie Dahmer, survived the attack and later served as a Forrest County election commissioner.

Hattiesburg also played an important role during the civil rights movement, particularly during Freedom Summer in 1964. Volunteers and local activists established educational programs, organized voter registration campaigns, and challenged segregation throughout the region. The city’s Freedom House hosted several freedom schools that provided Black children with educational opportunities and instruction in subjects frequently excluded from segregated classrooms. Those efforts helped establish Hattiesburg as an important center of civil rights organizing in southern Mississippi.

Against that historical backdrop, Colom’s electoral performance has attracted attention beyond Mississippi. His apparent victory in Forrest County demonstrates a substantial change in voting patterns within a community whose political and racial history has often reflected broader struggles over representation and civil rights.

Colom, a former district attorney for Mississippi’s 16th Judicial District, entered the Senate race challenging Hyde-Smith, who has represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate since 2018. His campaign has emphasized economic concerns, government accountability, and expanding political participation across the state. The contest has become unexpectedly competitive in a state that has consistently elected Republicans to the U.S. Senate in recent decades.

The election also carries historical implications for Black political representation. If Colom ultimately wins the statewide contest, he would become Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since the Reconstruction era. The state previously elected Hiram Revels, who became the first Black member of the United States Senate in 1870, followed by Blanche K. Bruce, who served from 1875 until 1881.

Despite Colom’s success in Forrest County, the statewide election has not been officially decided. As of Friday, November 6, Colom held a narrow lead of approximately 2,500 votes over Hyde-Smith, with nearly one million ballots cast statewide. Election officials are continuing to review thousands of outstanding absentee and affidavit ballots, which could determine the final outcome.

The unfinished count has also prompted legal disputes between the campaigns. Hyde-Smith’s attorneys have requested that county election officials preserve and separately maintain certain affidavit ballots, while Colom’s legal representatives have challenged those requests and called for consistent application of Mississippi’s election procedures. State election officials have emphasized that eligible ballots must be processed according to established requirements, with counties facing a November 13 certification deadline.

Forrest County’s results are part of a broader pattern of competitive voting across Mississippi, including several counties that previously favored Republican candidates. The outcome has drawn particular attention because of the county’s namesake and the generations of Black residents who fought for voting rights in the region.

Although the statewide Senate contest remains unresolved, Colom’s performance in Forrest County is already a notable development in Mississippi’s political landscape. A county named for an early leader of the Ku Klux Klan has given a majority of its counted votes to a Black Democratic Senate candidate, reflecting changes in the electorate more than 150 years after Reconstruction.

The final outcome of Mississippi’s Senate election will depend on the remaining ballots and the completion of the state’s certification process. For now, Forrest County stands as one of the most closely watched local results of the 2026 midterm elections.