Mississippi and Alaska Senate Races Still Unsettled as Left-Leaning Election Machinery Drags Out the Count
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The final Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska remain undecided, with tight margins, slow ballot processing, and federal interference prolonging the uncertainty over control of the Senate.
Democrats are set to enter the 120th Congress with at least a 54-seat majority in the Senate, but the results in Mississippi and Alaska are still not settled, leaving the final balance of power unresolved. In Mississippi, incumbent Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is facing Democratic challenger Scott Colom in a race that AP says has both candidates at about 49 percent of the vote, with Colom leading by 1,138 votes 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, adding that roughly 3,600 mail-in ballots and an unknown number of affidavit ballots still need to be processed. Mississippi law offers no automatic recount, so any recount would require a court order.
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan by a slim 637 votes, though nearly a quarter of the ballots are still outstanding. The state’s ranked-choice voting system means the final result may not be certified until November 18, when the Division of Elections releases the completed tabulation. Under that system, the lowest-ranked candidates are eliminated and their votes redistributed until someone clears the 50-percent threshold.
The Alaska race has also attracted federal attention after the Justice Department sued to block certification, alleging that a second candidate named Dan Sullivan was a "plant" designed to split the vote. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, although the department said it would appeal if Peltola ultimately wins.