Democrats Hold Slim Leads in Mississippi and Alaska Senate Races

Democratic challengers hold slim leads in the two remaining uncalled U.S. Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska as vote counts continue.

The narrow margins in these two states will determine the final strength of the Democratic majority in the Senate. According to NBC News projections, Democrats have already flipped seven seats to take control of the upper chamber, but the final tally depends on resolving the contests in the Deep South and the Pacific Northwest.

LIVE midterm election results: Mississippi, Alaska updates in US Senate races week after votes cast — USA TODAY

In Mississippi, Scott Colom holds a slight advantage over incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. As of November 10, the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office reported that 76 of the state’s 82 counties have submitted uncertified results, while four counties have already certified theirs.

“I follow Mississippi politics. It always – the affidavit and absentee ballots always trend Democratic,” Colom told Anderson Cooper on CNN on November 9, while projecting a victory in the state.

Alaska and Mississippi races to determine Democratic Senate majority strength — AP Archive

The race in Mississippi remains tight due to the volume of uncounted ballots. While approximately 99% of votes were tallied as of the evening of November 9, showing Colom at 49.1% to Hyde-Smith's 48.8%, officials are still processing many votes.

Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said that roughly 2,300 absentee mail-in ballots have not yet been received. More than 18,000 affidavit ballots, which serve as the state's version of provisional ballots, are currently being processed. All counties have until Friday, November 13, to upload their results.

Races in Alaska and Mississippi will determine strength of Democratic Senate majority — AP Archive

Alaska presents a different mathematical challenge for officials. Mary Peltola leads incumbent Dan Sullivan with 49% of the vote to his 47.2%, according to data reported by USA Today as of November 10. At that time, approximately 87.3% of ballots had been counted.

Because Alaska utilizes a ranked-choice voting system, a candidate must secure more than 50% of the vote to be declared the winner. If no candidate reaches that threshold, additional rounds of counting are required to determine the victor.

LIVE 2026 midterm election results: Mississippi, Alaska updates amid narrow US Senate races — USA TODAY

The Alaska Division of Elections reported that more than 245,000 ballots had been counted across 401 of the state’s 403 precincts as of November 10. Under state law, the ranked-choice tally for this race is not scheduled to begin until November 18.

State	Leading Candidate	Leading Percentage	Opponent	Opponent Percentage	Status
Mississippi	Scott Colom	49.1%	Cindy Hyde-Smith	48.8%	99% counted
Alaska	Mary Peltola	49%	Dan Sullivan	47.2%	87.3% counted

The final outcome of these races will settle the exact number of seats held by the Democratic party, which currently stands at 54 seats following seven net gains.