Photo: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images News / Getty Images
As of Thursday (November 5), the Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi remain undecided. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican Dan Sullivan by 637 votes with about 75% of the votes counted. The state's ranked-choice voting system means it could take days or weeks to determine a winner. If no candidate surpasses 50%, a new round of counting will begin to consider voters' second-choice preferences. The presence of another candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot has raised concerns among Republicans, who claim it was a deliberate attempt to siphon votes from the GOP, according to CNN.
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom is leading Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by just over 1,100 votes, with around 95% of the votes counted. Thousands of provisional and mail-in ballots still need to be counted before a winner can be declared. Mississippi does not allow recounts, so the final tally will be decisive, as reported by Politico.
Betting markets heavily favor Colom, with odds nearing 94% for his victory, according to Forbes. If Colom wins, he would be the first Democrat to secure a U.S. Senate seat in Mississippi since 1982.