Mississippi’s too-close-to-call Senate race is poised to become a legal battle, with both sides’ legal teams saying they will closely monitor how the decisive ballots are counted.
With 96% of the vote counted Thursday, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by a little more than 1,000 votes.
Both candidates have said they expect to win.
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“Scott Colom is going to be the next senator from Mississippi,” wrote Marc Elias, head of Elias Law Group, a Democratic-aligned law firm. “I am proud that Elias Law Group is leading the legal effort to ensure that happens.”
The Magnolia State has no legal process triggering an automatic recount of votes in close elections. It counts all mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to five business days after, meaning until Nov. 10.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against a Republican National Committee challenge of Mississippi’s acceptance of late ballots.
After Election Day, Mr. Colom told supporters, “We’ve got local lawyers that are going to be at the county meetings in each county. We will protect the process of this election. We will protect the integrity of this election.”
Jake Monssen, Ms. Hyde-Smith’s campaign manager, said in a Wednesday statement, “Our campaign is closely monitoring the remaining count. We remain confident that when every legally cast vote is fully and accurately counted, Mississippians will have reelected Cindy Hyde-Smith.”
Punchbowl News reported Thursday that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, was sending legal resources to assist with Democrats’ efforts in Mississippi.
Ms. Hyde-Smith’s campaign has fundraised off the potential legal showdown after Election Day.
“Team Hyde-Smith is mobilizing across the state right now to monitor ballot reviews and fight back against every aggressive challenge the Democrats file,” it wrote in a fundraising appeal. “But these legal battles require immediate, massive resources.”
If Mr. Colom wins, it will be one of the cycle’s biggest upsets.
Mississippi’s last Democratic senator was John Stennis, a longtime segregationist who won his final election in 1982.
In the final days of the race, Ms. Hyde-Smith was dismissive of Mr. Colom.
In a late-October interview with the local outlet WLOX, Ms. Hyde-Smith reiterated that she would not debate Mr. Colom.
“He can’t get a crowd in a room if I wasn’t in there. So why would I even acknowledge that?” she said.
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