Some election results get personal. Hours after Democrat Scott Colom won Mississippi’s Senate race, Magic Johnson posted a tribute to his late father, who he says was born in the state.
The Lowdown
Why it hit home: Magic’s post turned a vote count into a family story, and it drew 1.2 million views. The history checks out. Colom, who beat Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by a few thousand votes, will be Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction, the AP reported. The last, Blanche K. Bruce, left office in 1881, the BBC noted, which makes it 145 years. More on our AfroDiaspora page.
My father Earvin Johnson Sr. was born in Mississippi. Man, I wish he was alive to see Scott Colom become the first Black senator from the state in over 140 years! 🙌🏾
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) November 11, 2026
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More Context
- Associated Press — Mississippi elects Democrat Scott Colom as state’s first Black US senator since Reconstruction ↗
- BBC News — Why Democrat Scott Colom’s Senate win in Mississippi is so significant ↗
- Magic Johnson on X — Post by @MagicJohnson, Nov. 11, 2026 ↗
Photo credits
1. Featured image: Photo by Daniel Benavides, cropped (CC BY)
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