Here's the latest
• Mississippi Senate race: CNN projects Scott Colom will become the deep-red state’s first Democratic senator in over four decades and the first Black person elected to statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. Read more here for an inside look at Colom’s historic campaign.
• White House warning: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushed back today on a White House warning to Democratic investigators. “That’s an outrageous statement,” he said. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, who will chair the House Oversight Committee, said Congress has “wide latitude to conduct investigations and oversight.”
• Hegseth impeachment latest: After a failed effort yesterday, Jeffries would not say whether Democrats will try to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth once they have the majority. But he added that Hegseth “has got to go” and Democrats are “committed to making sure that that happens.”
Updates
(45)Mississippi highlights the duality of Chuck Schumer’s 2026
Scott Colom’s win in the Mississippi Senate race is Senate Democrats’ most shocking win. It’s the reddest state they’ve won – having gone for President Donald Trump by 23 points in 2024 – and Colom will be Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction.
It also points to the duality of the party right now when it comes to its leader, Chuck Schumer.
Recruiting Colom might have been the cherry on top of a cycle full of successful recruits by Schumer. But Colom, like a lot of other candidates Schumer landed who won in red states, has also gestured at the need for new leadership in the party.
Despite the arm’s-length approach, Schumer was a very early Colom backer. While few had heard of Colom up until several weeks ago, Schumer spotlighted him early. He actually invited Colom and his father to brunch two full years ago.
And even as some in the party flirt with turning the page on Schumer, he was quick to point to his role in recruiting Colom on Wednesday.
“Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done,” Schumer posted on X. “I knew it from the moment I met him.”
A Mississippi upset, warning from the White House and other headlines you should know
Scott Colom will defeat GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a major upset to become the first Democrat that voters in deep-red Mississippi have elected to the chamber in more than four decades, CNN’s Decision Desk projects.
After a week of vote-counting in Mississipi’s razor-thin close Senate race, CNN’s Decision Desk has projected that Scott Colom will defeat GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
It’s a major upset that makes him the first Democrat voters in the deep-red state have elected to the chamber in more than four decades. Colom, 43, also will become the first Black person elected to statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era.
Catch up on the latest:
- Reaction to Colom: Hyde-Smith congratulated Colom following the projection, saying in a statement that “while this is not the outcome we worked for or hoped for, I respect the decision of Mississippi voters.” Senate GOP leader John Thune said he spoke with Hyde-Smith after her projected loss. He told CNN that it’s been a “tough year all the way around.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a post on X that “Blue Mississippi is here.”
- White House warning: Meanwhile, Democrats expected to lead powerful committees investigating the Trump administration in the new Congress rejected a White House’s warning about oversight, vowing to be aggressive in their agenda to probe the president and his allies. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries described the letter from the White House counsel as “an outrageous statement.”
- On Hegseth: President Donald Trump praised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a day after the House blocked an effort to impeach him. Separately, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the “soldier correctly and respectfully reminded everyone to maintain decorum” after a US Army sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier reprimanded Hegseth and a group of his senior advisers after some in the group laughed and talked near the solemn memorial following a Veterans Day ceremony.
CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Morgan Rimmer, Caitlin McCormack, Alison Main, Manu Raju, Casey Riddle, Fredreka Schouten and Jordan Budney contributed reporting.
NAACP members in Jackson, Mississippi celebrate Colom's historic victory
Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the largest civil rights organization in the country, erupted in cheers and embraced each other at their historic state headquarters in Jackson soon after CNN projected Scott Colom’s Mississippi Senate win.
In unseating GOP incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith, Colom becomes the first Black person elected to statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era.
Members were gathered at the M.W. Stringer Masonic Lodge, the building where Medgar Evers — an NAACP field secretary and voting rights leader who was assassinated in 1963 — once worked.
Colom will also be the first Democrat to represent Mississippi in the Senate in almost 40 years. Democrat John Stennis, an avowed segregationist, retired in 1989 after decades in the chamber.
A simply stunning outcome
Scott Colom’s victory in the Mississippi Senate race is the most extraordinary result of a midterm election that was already a stunner.
There’s the history: He’ll be the state’s first Black senator since the end of Reconstruction — the period after the Civil War when Confederate states were reintegrated into the union amid bitter divisions over the status of freed slaves.
No one ever thought Mississippi was in play — apart perhaps from Colom, Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock and Democratic operatives who’ve been quietly building infrastructure in the deep red Deep South in recent years.
The win is also a rebuke for complacent MAGA Republicans who thought they’d coast to victory however unpopular President Donald Trump got. By the time incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith realized she was in a contest, it was too late.
Colom, meanwhile, is a vibrant new political talent. His “get another senator” campaign commercial went viral, defining the 2026 midterm zeitgeist.
An unpopular Trump will never be on the ballot again — so lightning may not strike twice. But Democrats will now have senators from Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, Georgia and North Carolina. No one saw that coming.
This foundation opens the tantalizing possibility of a new battleground in presidential elections that goes far beyond the handful of recent swing states and could transform the political map.
No wonder Republicans are worried.
"I respect the decision of Mississippi voters," Hyde-Smith says in congratulating Colom
Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith congratulated her Democratic challenger Scott Colom after CNN projected she would lose reelection in the deep-red Mississippi.
Senate GOP leader Thune spoke to Hyde-Smith shortly after projected loss
Senate GOP leader John Thune said he spoke with Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith after CNN projected she would lose her reelection bid in deep-red Mississippi.
“Sorry to hear that,” he told CNN. “I just got off the phone with her, and so, but yeah, tough year all the way around.”
Democrat Scott Colom’s win is a major upset to become the first Democrat that Mississippi voters have elected to the chamber in more than four decades, CNN’s Decision Desk projected.
Thune also discussed his meeting with Rep. Jim Jordan, who House Republicans have elected to lead them next Congress and said he is “a team player.” Thune said the meeting was “a chance to get acquainted” and that they talked about their families as well as Republicans’ goals for the lame duck session.
Hyde-Smith has conceded to Colom in Mississippi Senate race, his campaign says
GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has spoken to Democrat Scott Colom and conceded Mississippi’s Senate race, according to the Colom campaign.
The Democrat said “God bless you, thank you senator” to Hyde-Smith on their call, according to his campaign.
Colom, 43, also will become the first Black person elected to statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era.
His win in a Republican stronghold underscores the grim environment the GOP faced in the midterms, as voters grappled with a war overseas and high prices at home, and further expands Democrats’ incoming Senate majority.
Schumer says “Blue Mississippi is here”
“Blue Mississippi is here. Scott Colom is the only person who could’ve gotten this done. I knew it from the moment I met him,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a post on X after CNN projected the race.
“Scott will make a fantastic Senator for the people of Mississippi, and I can’t wait to welcome him to the Senate,” he added.
Indiana Democrats eye recount in county where state Senate president holds 297-vote lead
Indiana Democrats say they are preparing for a legal battle and could request a recount after Clark County’s election board decided against a hand recount of the results at a polling place where a voting machine jammed.
A malfunctioning voting machine at Jeffersonville High School led to poll workers recording voter names by hand. The total tally of votes cast at the precinct was 28 higher than the number of names recorded in the electronic pollbook, which is used to check in voters.
The two GOP members of the Clark County Election Board on Tuesday voted down a motion by the board’s Democratic chairman to initiate a recount. The county’s results are key, because the newly elected state Senate president, Sen. Chris Garten, faced a stunningly close reelection race there and leads by 297 votes, according to the Indiana Election Division.
However, Tallian suggested that the issues may be larger than the 28-vote discrepancy.
Garten responded on X Wednesday that “every ballot cast has been counted. That is not up for debate.”
“I fully support transparency and the integrity of our elections, but those principles must be grounded in facts, not speculation or politically motivated allegations,” he said. “Hoosier voters deserve facts, not political theater. I remain confident in the reported results, my 297-vote margin of victory, and the certification process ahead.”
Jordan praises White House warning to Democratic investigators
Incoming House Republican Leader Jim Jordan praised the administration’s letter that warned congressional Democrats that their expected investigations into the administration next Congress could cross the line into “criminality.”
“I just read that letter,” Jordan, who currently leads the House Judiciary Committee, told CNN.
Jordan spoke to reporters as he left a meeting with Senate GOP leader John Thune. Both Thune and Jordan were elected by their colleagues on Tuesday to lead congressional Republicans next Congress.
“We talked a little bit about the lame duck,” he said, acknowledging that they also discussed the potential for passing a sweeping partisan package “a little bit.”
Asked about his relationship with Thune, Jordan quipped, “We got to talk and visit there. He’s got six grandkids. We got nine. Maybe I was bragging a little bit.”
Pressed on whether President Donald Trump do anything differently in response to last week’s midterm results, Jordan replied, “We’re focused on doing what’s good for the American people, and so is the president. That’s the message I talked to our conference about yesterday, and that’s how I think we should view all this, what’s good for American families. When you’re focused on that — and I don’t think it’s more government. I don’t think it sees all these investigations that the Democrats are talking about, I think it’s let’s focus on helping families.”
Democrat Scott Colom will win US Senate seat in deep-red Mississippi, CNN projects
Scott Colom will defeat GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a major upset to become the first Democrat that voters in deep-red Mississippi have elected to the chamber in more than four decades, CNN’s Decision Desk projects.
Colom, a local district attorney, centered his campaign on affordability issues, labeling Hyde-Smith “Cindy High Prices.”
The campaign also produced one of the most attention-getting ads of the midterms by mocking a Hyde-Smith comment that there are “so many proteins to choose from” when she was asked about rising beef prices.
As the race tightened, a parade of high-profile Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, campaigned with Colom in the final weeks of the election, and Democratic super PACs began spending money on his behalf.
President Donald Trump also traveled to the state to rally Republican voters.
Colom led Hyde-Smith in the days after the midterm elections by a razor-thin margin as vote counting continued in the state. Local officials had to vet thousands of provisional ballots cast by voters in the high turnout election.
Colom campaigned relentlessly as he sought to energize Black voters, who make up roughly 35% of the state’s electorate. He also worked to build a coalition that includes White, working-class Mississippians.
The win comes just a few years after Hyde-Smith blocked Colom’s nomination to the federal bench, although the Democrat had the backing of other Republicans, including Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi’s senior senator.
Hyde-Smith became the first female US senator from Mississippi when she was appointed in 2018 to fill a vacancy. She went on to win a special election later that year and reelection in 2020.
Johnson defends White House warning to Democrats that investigations could be criminal
Speaker Mike Johnson defended the White House for suggesting to Democrats that investigations into the administration could amount to criminality, though he wouldn’t say what laws may allegedly being broken.
“There’s been a lot of wild accusations and suggestions of what they will do to politically target their foes,” Johnson told CNN on Wednesday.
The White House has warned the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee that the Trump administration “will not be extorted” as it cautions against forthcoming congressional investigations. A letter signed by the White House counsel stated that threatening executive branch officials to discourage them from public service could amount to “blatant criminality.”
“I think it’s lawfare. I think there’s going to be a lot of abuse of that. I’m not sure how much of it has been done yet, but I hope that we’re wrong about that,” Johnson said.
Pressed by CNN on what law the Democrats are breaking, he did not answer.
Thune and Jordan meet after being chosen to lead GOP next Congress
GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, who was elected Tuesday to be the House Republican leader next Congress, is currently meeting with Senate GOP Leader John Thune.
As he arrived at Thune’s office, Jordan told CNN that he is, “just dropping in to say hello,” and that he is “going to congratulate [Thune] on his being elected leader and just visit for a few minutes.”
Thune was reelected as Senate GOP Leader on Tuesday.
Asked whether they would discuss prospects for Republicans passing a partisan package before the new Congress puts them in the minority, Jordan replied, “I’m sure we’ll get into some of those things, I have no idea.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Thune told reporters the meeting’s topics would “run the gamut.”
Congressman who left GOP denounces Republican redistricting "schemes" after midterm losses
Rep. Kevin Kiley — an independent who left the Republican Party earlier this year — denounced GOP redistricting efforts after the party saw huge midterms losses, including his own defeat in California last week.
When Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, launched a historic mid-decade redistricting war last year, their goal was to protect their razor-thin majority in the House. Now, Democrats have taken back the House and the strategy seems to have backfired.
Kiley left the Republican Party in March as he faced a tough reelection bid after California redrew its congressional map to counter gerrymandering in Texas. Despite the pivot, Kiley lost reelection to Democrat Richard Pan in California’s 6th District last week.
The outgoing congressman on Wednesday suggested that state lawmakers in Indiana and South Carolina who refused to draw new maps ahead of the election ultimately saved Republicans from further losses.
“I doubt the two sides will end this plague on our democracy anytime soon,” Kiley said. “But reasonable people of both parties should at least be working on a solution for after the next Census.”
CNN’s Amy O’Kruk and Ethan Cohen contributed reporting.
"We collectively failed," Rep. Boebert says about midterm results
Rep. Lauren Boebert declined to point fingers at President Donald Trump as a drag on the GOP ticket in the midterm elections, but said that “the American people let us know that we have failed.”
The Colorado congresswoman told CNN’s Manu Raju:
Asked by Raju why the election was so close in a district that Trump won by double digits in 2024, Boebert blamed Democrats for pumping money into the race in the final days. “I think it’s gross, how much we dump into these races. And I was actually hoping to prove that seats just can’t be bought, but maybe I’ll be proven wrong,” she said.
Here's who could run for president in 2028
The 2026 midterms are barely in the rearview mirror, but reading the tea leaves for 2028 is already underway.
A large field of Democrats is expected to join the campaign, while Republicans will need to maneuver around President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance as they angle to inherit his MAGA coalition.
AOC says questions about party’s leadership and direction are “very normal”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said today that it was “very normal” for new members of Congress to have questions about the direction of the party’s leadership, as some progressives decline to say if they’ll vote for Hakeem Jeffries to be speaker in January.
“People just got elected from their districts. There are people that are making their voices heard,” she told CNN’s Manu Raju, arguing that newly elected Democrats are being “deliberate” about what steps the party will take to address top issues.
“I think it is completely normal for someone to show up and say, ‘What’s the agenda?’” she said, adding that new members are not elected to “come in and immediately….take orders.”
“I think it’s a totally fair and responsible thing to do. I don’t…you can’t make villains of people who just showed up two days ago and are asking good faith questions,” she continued.
Asked if she plans to support Jeffries, she responded, “the race is unopposed. Yeah.”
Incoming Democratic chairmen reject White House threat of legal action
Democrats expected to lead powerful committees investigating the Trump administration in the new Congress rejected the White House’s warning of legal action, vowing to be aggressive in their agenda to probe the president and his allies.
“Give me a break. I mean, they cannot take any sort of heat at this moment,” incoming House Oversight Committee Chairman Robert Garcia told CNN on Wednesday. “What the American public wants is they want us to fight, and they want us to be in this moment where we are pushing back against someone who has tried to essentially install an authoritarian system.”
Garcia and other Democrats who will take the reins of leadership in January have previewed probes on a wide range of targets, including members of the president’s Cabinet and family.
Incoming House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jamie Raskin called the White House’s threat “meaningless and embarrassing,” saying Democrats are “obviously undeterred and unbowed and uncowed.”
The constitutional law professor emphasized Congress’ power to conduct oversight, saying: “We have to know what’s going on in the government. We need to know what’s going on in the economy, what’s going on in the society in order to pass the laws that the American people need.”
Jeffries dodges on whether House Democrats will impeach Hegseth next Congress
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is widely expected to be elected as speaker next Congress, would not say whether Democrats will try to impeach Pete Hegseth once they have the majority.
“I’ve had a conversation with Jamie Raskin. I’ve had a conversation with Adam Smith. They’re going to be handling the accountability effort moving forward with respect to Pete Hegseth,” he told CNN of the top Democrats on the House Judiciary and Armed Services committees.
Jeffries also told reporters that he has spoken with some of the 11 House Democrats who missed a procedural vote last night that blocked the House from voting on impeaching Hegseth, saying he’s “talked to several. I haven’t talked to everyone.”
Pressed on whether the blame for that vote falls on House Democratic leadership, Jeffries replied: “I really don’t understand your question.”
Jeffries calls White House warning to Democratic investigators "outrageous"
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is widely expected to be elected speaker next Congress, pushed back on the White House’s warning to Democratic investigators.
“That’s an outrageous statement. It’s factually inaccurate, it’s legally inaccurate, and it’s inaccurate in terms of the Constitution,” declared Jeffries.
Asked whether he’s spoken with his Democratic colleagues that missed Tuesday’s procedural vote blocking a push for impeachment of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Jeffries replied, “I’ve talked to several. I haven’t talked to everyone.”
