Mississippi and Alaska Senate Races Remain Unresolved Amid Close Tallies and Ranked-Choice Counting
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The final U.S. Senate contests in Mississippi and Alaska are still pending as vote counts and procedural rules delay final results, keeping control of the Senate uncertain.
Democrats are set to enter the 120th Congress with at least a 54-seat majority in the Senate, but the outcomes in Mississippi and Alaska remain undecided, leaving the final balance of power unclear. In Mississippi, incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a close ally of President Donald Trump, faces Democratic challenger Scott Colom in a race that AP reports shows both candidates at roughly 49 percent of the vote, with a lead of 1,138 votes for Colom after 96 percent of ballots have been counted.
"Counties have 10 days from the date of the election to submit their certified results to our office, which is November 13," Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said, noting that about 3,600 mail-in ballots and an unknown number of affidavit ballots still need processing. Mississippi law does not provide an automatic recount mechanism, so any recount would require a court order. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan by a narrow margin of 637 votes, but nearly a quarter of the ballots are still uncounted. The state’s use of ranked-choice voting means the final result may not be certified until November 18, when the Division of Elections will release the completed tabulation. The process involves eliminating the lowest-ranked candidates and redistributing their votes until a candidate surpasses the 50-percent threshold. The Alaska race has also drawn federal attention after the Justice Department sued to block certification, alleging that a second candidate named Dan Sullivan was a “plant” to split the vote. A federal judge dismissed the suit, though the department indicated it will appeal if Peltola ultimately wins.