Mississippi, Alaska Senate Races Remain Too Close to Call

Senate races in Mississippi and Alaska remain too close to call as Democratic challengers cling to slim leads.

In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom has a narrow lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, an unexpected development in a reliably red state.

The razor-thin margin surprised political experts as Mississippi has long been a Republican stronghold. It came alongside other surprising Democratic wins in the American South.

Alaska’s Senate race also remains unresolved, with Democratic challenger Mary Peltola hanging on to a 637-vote lead over Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan, according to The Associated Press, with 74 percent of ballots counted.

Mississippi Senate Race Close

As of Nov. 5, Colom held a 1,145-vote lead on Hyde-Smith, according to the Associated Press, with 96 percent of the vote counted.

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That’s in a state President Donald Trump won in 2024 with 60.9 percent of the vote, defeating Kamala Harris by 22.9 points. Hyde-Smith won reelection in 2020 over Democratic challenger Mike Espy by a 54 percent–44 percent margin.

Matthew Dallek, a political science professor at George Washington University, told The Epoch Times that the economy, the war in Iran, and high gas and grocery prices contributed to the tight race.

Dallek said the switch was a perfect storm where black voters supported Democratic candidates in Mississippi while Latino voters came out in full force to elect Democrats in Texas after members of the two demographics helped elect Trump in 2024.

“So this is true across the South. Like, very large African American turnout, which is part of a response to the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and a response to maybe Trump gutting affirmative action and all kinds of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and civil rights measures,” Dallek said.

He was referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act and gerrymandering in April. A majority said Louisiana’s Senate Bill 8, which created a second majority-black district, was racial gerrymandering and unconstitutional. Critics, however, warned it would have far-reaching impacts for voting rights.

University of South Florida political science professor J. Edwin Benton told The Epoch Times that southern voters were once part of a “solid Democratic South” before a shift to conservatism in the 1980s and 1990s in the Deep South and Florida.

The rise of Trump and the Make America Great Again movement solidified Republican support in states such as Mississippi and South Carolina.

The midterms changed the political alignment, with Democrats making gains in traditional Republican states, including Texas, Iowa, and Kansas.

Benton said voters who were once captivated by Trump turned out in force due to the rising cost of gas prices and groceries and being at war.

Vice President JD Vance posted on X that low voter turnout was not the problem, saying many people who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 turned to Democrats in 2026. He said the war in Iran, the cost of living, putting America first and the change in relationship with Israel were the reasons Republicans lost.

In Florida’s 14th Congressional District, longtime Democratic Rep. Kathy Castor fended off Republican challenger Mike Beltran.

Despite a redrawn district, Benton said Castor won because she has delivered on promises over her nearly 20 years in office.

Alaska Senate Race Remains Tight

The Alaska Senate Race has proven to be tighter than Mississippi’s, as Peltola has a slim lead over Sullivan in another state controlled by Republicans.

In Alaska, if neither candidate gets 50 percent or more of the votes, rules call for a ranked-choice tabulation, where voters would rank their choice in order of preference.

The trending results are a far cry from the incumbent Sullivan’s previous run in 2020, when he won his second term by more than 12 points over nonpartisan candidate Al Gross.

But Peltola has proven to be a formidable challenger as votes continued to be counted in a normally Republican-controlled state.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit to segregate and review ballots cast for independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, asserting that his appearance on the ballot created confusion with Sen. Dan Sullivan.