In Mississippi, Democratic challenger Scott Colom maintains a razor-thin advantage of 1,138 votes over incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith with 96 percent counted. County election officials have up to 10 days to process thousands of outstanding mail-in and provisional affidavit ballots, with any potential recount requiring a formal court order. Meanwhile, Alaska's race between Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican Dan Sullivan remains undecided as roughly a quarter of ballots await tabulation under ranked-choice redistribution rules.
Key points
Democrats would move closer to the critical 60-vote filibuster threshold by sweeping both…: Democrats would move closer to the critical 60-vote filibuster threshold by sweeping both uncalled Senate seats.
Mississippi candidates must pursue a court order to trigger a recount because state law l…: Mississippi candidates must pursue a court order to trigger a recount because state law lacks automatic recount provisions.
Alaska's ranked-choice voting rules require redistributing subsequent choices if no candi…: Alaska's ranked-choice voting rules require redistributing subsequent choices if no candidate secures an outright majority.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
What’s delaying the US Senate election results in Mississippi and Alaska?
Ranked-choice voting may decide Alaska’s Senate outcome, while Mississippi’s race hangs on a knife’s edge.
Democrats regained control of both chambers of the United States Congress in this year’s midterm elections, with a wave of victories that party leader Hakeem Jeffries likened to an “American tsunami”.
But as of Wednesday night, two US Senate races remain undecided.
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A cliffhanger in the southeastern state of Mississippi and a scandal-plagued Alaska race are the final Senate contests to be tallied.
As it stands, the Democrats will usher in the 120th Congress on January 3 with a majority of at least 54 seats in the 100-member Senate.
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