Updated results show a nearly dead heat in Mississippi, where Democrat challenger Scott Colom has a very slight lead against Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith.
SuperTalk Mississippi, the conservative statewide radio network, Wednesday morning reported only 28 votes between Colom and Hyde-Smith with 97% of ballots counted.
The Alaska Senate seat also remains unsettled. The New York Times reported that operatives associated with Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to run against Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
In Mississippi, 29 of 82 counties had less than 99% of votes tallied, SuperTalk reported.
Mississippi has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1982, when seven-time election-winner John C. Stennis defeated future governor Haley Barbour by almost 30 points. That’s 44 years if you’re scoring at home.
Despite that history, Democratic Party leaders believed the state was in play and they were willing to invest heavily in the seat. That investment might pay off.
Considering affordability was a main issue going into the midterms, Sen. Hyde-Smith helped her opponent with her comment on rising beef prices. "You know, you have so many proteins to choose from," she told a TV news station.
Colom, an attorney, turned that comment into a campaign theme: "Pick another senator instead."
Now, Tuesday night’s stunning “Blue Wave” could move Democrats closer to 60 Senate seats with help from one of the most conservative-leaning states in the country.
For Colom, the Columbus district attorney, the race is personal. Hyde-Smith blocked his appointment to a federal judgeship in 2023.
A cattle farmer from South Mississippi, Hyde-Smith was appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant in 2018 to replace Thad Cochran who resigned with health concerns.
Her committee assignments have included Appropriations, Agriculture-Nutrition-Forestry, Energy-Natural Resources and Rules-Administration.
She has voted with Republicans 99% of the time.
Frank Corder, editor of the online news outlet Magnolia Tribune, said a disinterested GOP base helped create the current drama.
“Republican votes were down in every congressional district while Democrat votes were about on par with past elections, except in the Senate race where Democrat turnout was actually down from 6 years ago with Hyde-Smith on the ballot,” Corder said. “When Republicans vote, they win in Mississippi. They didn't Tuesday, and we're now where we are.”
Neither the Mississippi race nor the Alaska race will change control of the Senate. Democrats needed to flip four seats to emerge as the new power and have flipped seven as of Wednesday morning.
But there’s been a lot of talk among Democrats about abolishing the Senate filibuster, the lone leverage mechanism available to the minority party. It allows the party not in power to block votes to pass legislation by maintaining the Senate floor through continuous debate. In modern days, just the threat of debate is enough to require 60 votes to bypass a filibuster and pass legislation.
Democrat senators used it to great effect the last two years in blocking GOP passage of the Save American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act. Passed by the House multiple times, it remains dormant in their chamber.
During that time, GOP Senate Majority Leader John Thune resisted any changes to the filibuster citing his belief in its importance to the Senate.
"Keeping the Senate the Senate and ensuring it continues to fill the role envisioned by the Founders is more important than temporary political gain,” he said.
Now Democrats control the Senate and the fate of the filibuster.
Some want to throw it out altogether.
“We should end, or work to end, the filibuster when we get into office,” newly elected senator Juliana Stratton, the Illinois lieutenant governor, said in a pre-election interview with Illinois Public Media.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut has said he favors modifying the filibuster.
“I’m in favor of eliminating the filibuster for specific measures, not across the board,” he said.
