There’s a UW connection to a historic story in national politics.
University of Wisconsin Law School graduate Scott Colom’s successful U.S. Senate campaign in Mississippi contributed to the midterm wave which saw Democrats win majorities in the House and Senate. Colom defeated Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith to the bring Democrats to 55 of 100 Senate seats, the eighth seat flipped by Democrats.
THANK YOU, MISSISSIPPI! This victory belongs to all of us and I am honored to be your new senator-elect. https://t.co/J2oy1oUVDz
— Scott Colom (@scott_colom) November 12, 2026
Colom graduated from the UW Law School in 2009 and was awarded the 40 Under 40 Award from the Wisconsin Alumni Association in 2020. In an interview with the school’s alumni magazine that year, Colom said his time at the UW Law School “strengthened his resolve to change the criminal justice system from within.”
Colom has served since 2016 as a district attorney in Mississippi. He’s the first Democrat elected senator from the state since 1982 and the first Black U.S. Senator from Mississippi since 1874.