Incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., has won the Republican primary election on Tuesday night, defeating physician Sarah Adlakha and advancing to the November general election as she seeks a second full term. Hyde-Smith secured 80.8% of the vote compared to Adlakha’s 19.2%, with 88% of total votes counted.
The winner will face Lowndes County District Attorney Scott Colom in the general election, who defeated teacher Priscilla Williams-Till (18.4%) and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Albert Littell (8.4%) in the Democratic primary. This matchup comes three years after Hyde-Smith opposed former President Joe Biden’s nomination of Colom to serve as a U.S. District Court judge, a lifetime appointment. Under Senate tradition, judicial nominees typically advance only with approval from their home-state senators via “blue slips.”
State Senator Roger Wicker, Mississippi’s senior senator, approved Colom’s nomination, as did two previous Republican governors of the state: Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant. Hyde-Smith entered the U.S. Senate in 2018 after being appointed by Governor Phil Bryant to fill the seat vacated by longtime Senator Thad Cochran. She won a special election that year and secured her first full six-year term in 2020 with 54.1% of the vote.
A native of Brookhaven, Hyde-Smith served as Mississippi’s agriculture and commerce commissioner from 2012 to 2018 and represented the state’s 39th District in the state Senate for over a decade. Mississippi is considered a reliably Republican state in federal elections, giving Hyde-Smith an early advantage as she prepares for the November contest.
Additionally, Tuesday’s primary elections across Mississippi also determined congressional nominations, including the Democratic victory of longtime Representative Bennie Thompson in the state’s 2nd Congressional District and the Republican win by Mike Ezell for the 4th Congressional District.
