Colom says U.S. Senate race with Hyde-Smith is “tied” but polling, history tell another story in Mississippi

Colom notes U.S. Senate race with.

Key points

• Some media outlets are biting on the results, sharing headlines like this from Newsweek that claim, "Democrat Threatens Historic Senate Upset in Deep-Red Mississippi."
• Founding Partner of Zenith Polls, Adam Carlson asked in June, Does anyone know anything regarding Wedgwood Polls?
• Those polls indicated Hyde-Smith on top of Colom by 6 points in August and 3 points in April, respectively.
• Eighty-year-old Steve Pajcic is behind the freshly minted Super PAC New Accord for All that was formed in October.
• Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat nominee Scott Colom (Photos from Facebook).

Colom notes U.S. Senate race with Hyde-Smith is "tied" but polling, history tell another story in Mississippi. By: Frank Corder – October 16, 2026.

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat nominee Scott Colom (Photos from Facebook).

Mississippi has seen this playbook before from a Democrat challenger to U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. Like Scott Colom's campaign, media outlets ran with polling results in 2020 in her race with Mike Espy showing the Democrat was within 1% of the Republican incumbent. Espy then lost by 10%.

Scott Colom's campaign for U.S. Senate in Mississippi is touting a poll produced by Wedgewood Polls, a new polling firm that is less than a year old.

Notably, the Wedgewood Polls survey discovered that incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith leads Colom 52% to 48%, a spread that the Colom campaign is using to say the race is "tied" when considering the 4.3-point margin of error.

Notably, the poll of 511 probable voters was conducted from October 12 to 14 by Wedgewood Polls, an independent survey research firm founded in 2026 that little is known concerning. Founding Partner of Zenith Polls, Adam Carlson asked in June, "Does anyone know anything regarding Wedgwood Polls? This is the first I've heard of them."

Wedgewood's first published poll was in June for the Louisiana U.S. Senate Republican Primary. The survey, which was remarked to have been conducted June 22-24, demonstrated John Fleming outpacing Julia Letlow by a 4-point margin, 48% to 44%. When the dust settled 3 days afterwards on June 27, Letlow was the winner with 56.9% to Fleming's 43.1% – a almost 13-point swing for Letlow from the Wedgewood Polls survey just days earlier, yet.

Notably, the new polling firm has since published surveys in the U.S. Senate races in Michigan, Texas, Maine, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio as well gubernatorial races in a spattering of states and a poll on President Donald Trump's approval rating.

Colom's campaign is additionally sharing polling results from its own pollster conducted for Way to Lead PAC and a survey done for the Democratic-aligned SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) Action Fund by Impact Research. Those polls indicated Hyde-Smith on top of Colom by 6 points in August and 3 points in April, respectively.

Colom campaign Manager Gerard Henderson applied the friendly polling to say, "In a state Donald Trump won, an incumbent Republican senator should be cruising. Instead, Cindy Hyde-Smith is scared she's regarding to lose."

Nevertheless, Mississippi has seen this playbook before from a Democrat challenger to Hyde-Smith.

Almost 6 years ago to the day in 2020, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy shared this on X: "In March, we were 25 points behind Cindy Hyde-Smith. Now, we are just 1 point down. The momentum is on our side. We can WIN this in 13 days."

Espy even posted a Newsweek article with a favorable headline, just as Colom has now done.

Then on X the day of the General Election, Espy wrote, "We are statistically tied with Cindy Hyde-Smith. We have MOMENTUM on our side. We can WIN today."

Espy's campaign was basing his narrative off of a poll from The Tyson Group that indicated Hyde-Smith holding a 1% lead over Espy, with the Republican at 41% to the Democrat's 40%.

Like Colom's campaign, media outlets ran with the Espy polling results, pressed on by the Democrat's campaign as it attempted to present itself as viable and worthy of earned media as well as further fundraising backing to unseat the Republican in red Mississippi.

President Barack Obama and fellow national Democrats came to Espy's side to push Mississippi to create a change to the Democrat column, the same as is happening now with Colom.

When Magnolia State voters went to the polls in November 2020, Espy lost to Hyde-Smith by 10 points, 54% to 44% – worse than he did two years prior in the special election to replace Thad Cochran, yet.

As he tries to rally voters to his campaign with less than three weeks to go until Election Day, whether history will repeat itself on November 3 in this midterm election remains to be seen, but for now, it appears Colom is taking a page from Espy down the stretch, trying to gain media attention with friendly polling that catches eyes of donors and national progressive leaders.

Colom and Hyde-Smith will face off on November 3 with independent candidate Ty Pinkins additionally on the ballot. Regarding the Author(s).

Frank Corder is a native of Pascagoula. For almost two decades, he has noted and offered analysis on administration, public policy, business and matters of faith. Frank's interviews, articles, and columns have been shared throughout Mississippi as well as in national publications. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, providing insight and commentary on the inner workings of the Magnolia State. Frank has served his community in both elected and appointed public office, hosted his own local radio and television programs, and managed private businesses all while being an engaged husband and father. Email Frank: [email protected].

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In short, colom says U.S. Senate race with Hyde-Smith is “ tied” but polling, history is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.