In Mississippi, the race remains too tight to call, with Democrats hoping for their first Senate victory in the state since 1982.
The latest results, as of 6 a.m. ET, from the Associated Press show Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has 48.9% of the vote, while Democratic challenger Scott Colom has 49% — a gap of 1,813 votes with 96% of the ballot counted.
Both sides have said they are doing everything they can to ensure a fair vote count.
Asked on Wednesday if he was preparing any potential litigation, Colom said at a news conference: “We’re prepared to litigate, though. We were prepared for this for months. We have an army of lawyers. We have local lawyers. We have everybody involved to make sure the process is followed according to the law.”
A post to Hyde-Smith’s X account on Thursday said she remained confident of winning. “Election officials are continuing the normal process of counting outstanding ballots, including absentee ballots,” she said. “They must have the time to complete that work and ensure every lawful ballot is accurately counted and every Mississippian’s voice is heard.”
The NAACP has also said in a statement it has deployed national legal, policy, and field staff to the state to “ensure every eligible vote is counted.”
Mississippi’s Secretary of State Michael Watson said on Wednesday there were 3,600 outstanding absentee-by-mail ballots that must be received within five business days and an unknown number of affidavit ballots that will be processed within the 10-day window counties have to certify their results.
Democrats continue to celebrate one of the most lopsided midterm election victories in modern U.S. history, routing their Republican rivals to gain control of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate and statehouses across the country.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats and now hold 54 to the Republican Party’s 44. Two seats — nail-biting contests in Alaska and Mississippi — remain undeclared.
To do so, Democrats won a series of key battleground contests. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in one of the most closely watched races of the midterms. James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the Lone Star State since 1988. Annie Andrews beat Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, putting an end to her three-decade tenure. Sen. Jon Ossoff comfortably won reelection in Georgia. Other Senate seats to flip to the Democratic Party included Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Josh Turek in Iowa and Adam Hamilton in Kansas.
In the House, Democrats held 253 House seats to the GOP’s 157 as of 2.30 a.m. ET Friday, comfortably passing the majority threshold of 218, with 25 races still to be called. The latest estimates show that the party is on track to win its largest majority since 2008. And there are still seats it could flip, including Colorado’s Fourth District, which is held by Republican incumbent Rep. Lauren Boebert, a staunch Trump ally, whose race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher remains tight.
There were also 36 gubernatorial races, mayoral contests and numerous ballot measures — and plenty of firsts. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, while Democrat Amy Acton became the first woman elected governor of Ohio. In Florida, Republican Byron Donalds became the state’s first Black governor-elect. El-Sayed will be America’s first Muslim senator.
At the White House, President Trump signaled he would work with Democrats during his remaining two years in office but said he wouldn’t hesitate to use his veto power. The president also acknowledged Wednesday that the Iran war contributed to Republican losses, but defended his decision to pursue the conflict. “If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again,” he said, adding: “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Vice President JD Vance had earlier blamed the scale of GOP losses on the war with Iran.
“The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” he wrote in a post on X. “The reason we lost is the war.”