Alaska is counting, slowly
Alaska's Senate race is still open. Former Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat, led Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by 637 votes with about 78% of ballots counted, according to tallies published on Thursday. Most of the ballots still outstanding are mail votes from remote districts, which can arrive up to 15 days after election day.
If no candidate clears 50% of first choices, the state runs a ranked-choice tabulation, and that count is not scheduled to begin before 18 November. Two other candidates split a few thousand votes: Gerald Heikes took about 4,800 and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr, who shares the incumbent's name, took about 3,600. An analysis of ballot data found that more than a third of those voters did not rank anyone else, so their ballots would not transfer in later rounds.
Peltola has asked supporters to wait for the count. The Justice Department still has a suit pending over certification, now before the 9th Circuit.
Mississippi hangs on provisionals
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by a handful of votes. His campaign said about 15,000 provisional ballots still have to be verified before a result is possible. State law sets no fixed deadline for that work.
Neither race changes control of the chamber. Democrats have already flipped seven Senate seats and at least 32 House seats, giving them majorities in both chambers for the first time in Trump's second term.
What the new majority wants first
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said the party would focus on affordability and accountability. He also said the president should end the war in Iran before the new Congress is seated in January.
Democrats also picked up governorships, including Texas, and Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a state, in Georgia. James Talarico is expected to take a Texas Senate seat that Democrats had not held for 38 years.
The party inherits a narrow set of options. Most spending and war powers still run through the White House, and any new programme needs 60 Senate votes. The first real tests will come with government funding in January.