Mississippi has elected its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction and delivered Democrats a major upset in a rocky midterm election for the GOP. Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Deep South state that has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations. Colom capitalized on the state’s large Black population, discontent with the economy in Donald Trump’s second presidency and Hyde-Smith’s mistakes. The contest was a latecomer to the national spotlight, drawing attention from Democrats who belatedly infused cash into Colom's candidacy.