Over a week following the midterm elections, numerous races at both the federal and state levels have yet to be officially called, with vote counting ongoing in multiple jurisdictions across the country.
In the Senate, Democrats have secured 54 seats for the incoming Congress, though additional gains remain possible in Alaska and Mississippi. The House shows Democrats with their largest elected majority since 2008, totaling 255 seats out of 435, with potential for further gains as remaining races are finalized. More than a dozen congressional contests are still awaiting official determination.
The Mississippi Senate race between Democrat Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith remained extremely competitive, with Colom holding a narrow lead of approximately 2,600 votes by late Tuesday. The state faces multiple counting deadlines this week, with mail-in ballots due by Tuesday and county certification required by Friday, followed by state certification on December 3. Mississippi’s decentralized vote reporting system, with 82 counties reporting separately rather than through a central database, has complicated tracking of remaining ballots.
Alaska’s Senate contest between Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican Senator Dan Sullivan showed Peltola leading by roughly 2,500 votes with about 76 percent of votes counted. The race involves several procedural complexities, including the acceptance of late-arriving absentee ballots through November 18 and the potential application of ranked-choice voting if neither candidate achieves an outright majority.
Multiple House races also remain undecided with razor-thin margins. North Carolina leads with four uncalled races, while other competitive contests are ongoing in California, South Carolina, Minnesota, and Tennessee. Gubernatorial races in Kansas and Alaska likewise remain unresolved, with Kansas triggering a close-race audit process involving hand-counting of ballots that must be completed by November 16. Various states have different recount procedures and certification deadlines extending into December.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI