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Democrat Scott Colom defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's U.S. Senate race, according to an Associated Press race call. The result came after a prolonged ballot count and was a surprise win for the party, BBC US & Canada reported. Colom becomes the first Black senator from Mississippi in more than 140 years, and the first since post-Civil War Reconstruction, according to PBS NewsHour. Both BBC US & Canada and PBS NewsHour described the race as closely contested.