Explainer
Races · Explainer
Alaska and Mississippi Senate Races: Why Neither Is Called Yet, and What Happens Next
Peltola leads Sullivan in Alaska but sits under 50%, triggering a ranked-choice count. In Mississippi, Colom leads Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes with ballots still outstanding. Neither race has been called.
Both the Alaska and Mississippi Senate races remain uncalled as of this week. In Alaska, Mary Peltola leads Dan Sullivan but is below 50%, triggering a ranked-choice tabulation. In Mississippi, Scott Colom leads Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes with 96% counted, and thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots are still being processed.
Alaska: Peltola vs. Sullivan, round two coming
Four candidates were on the Alaska ballot: Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, Democrat and former Rep. Mary Peltola, retired schoolteacher Daniel J. Sullivan, and Republican Gerald Heikes, according to Votebeat.
As of Wednesday, Peltola held a narrow lead but was below 50%. That puts the race on track for a ranked-choice count. Heikes had more than 4,800 votes, about 2%, and could shape the outcome if his voters ranked the incumbent second, Votebeat reported.
The timing from here is fixed by state policy. Under a 2022 policy, the Division of Elections runs ranked-choice tabulation on Nov. 18, the same day that marks the deadline for the last absentee ballots, Alaska Beacon reports.
Final unofficial results come Nov. 18, and official results are expected Nov. 25. Absentee ballots can arrive by mail as late as Nov. 18, though most usually arrive within a week.
Mississippi: Colom vs. Hyde-Smith, about a thousand votes apart
As of 5:44 p.m. Wednesday, the AP had Democrat Scott Colom at 464,926 votes, or 49%, and Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith at 463,788, or 48.9%, with 96% counted, the Mississippi Independent reports. That's a lead of 1,138 votes. That morning his lead had been just 43 votes.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson said about 3,600 absentee-by-mail ballots are still outstanding and must arrive within five business days, plus an unknown number of affidavit ballots to be processed within a 10-day window, WAPT reported.
Counties must certify by Nov. 13, and the state declares final results Dec. 3, per the Independent. Mississippi has never passed a recount law, so a recount can only come by court order. No Democrat has won a Senate race there since John Stennis in 1982.
Why it matters
Democrats have already won control of the Senate, according to NPR. These two seats decide the size of that majority, and a Colom win would be a historic breakthrough in the Deep South.
Plank News does not project races. We'll update when a reliable outlet calls either race. Until then, both remain uncalled.
Sources
- Why Alaska Senate election results could take days or weeks votebeat.org
- First Alaska election results to come Tuesday evening, final unofficial results in 2 weeks alaskabeacon.com
- Colom v. Hyde-Smith: When—and how—will this close contest be decided? msindy.org
- Secretary of state says thousands of absentee-by-mail ballots still need to be counted wapt.com
- 2026 election: Democrats win full control of Congress npr.org