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Undecided Senate races could drag for weeks

· Fact-checked before it aired. Unconfirmed claims from this segment are not shown.

As of Wednesday morning, Alaska's Senate race between Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola and Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan was separated by less than one percentage point with over 70% of votes counted. Two other candidates — Gerald Heikes and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. — held small shares that could matter in ranked-choice tabulation. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom and Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith were nearly tied, with Colom ahead by fewer than 50 votes in some tallies and thousands of eligibility-check ballots outstanding. Democrats had already won enough seats to control the Senate, so these races affect the final margin rather than control.

Alaska's ranked-choice voting system means if no candidate tops 50% in first-choice votes, the state runs a ranked-choice tabulation 15 days after Election Day. Alaska also has 131 hand-count precincts and many remote communities, slowing the count. Mississippi is dealing with uncounted ballots from voters whose eligibility must be verified.

Both the Alaska and Mississippi Senate races remain unresolved as of Wednesday morning. Alaska's ranked-choice tabulation could take more than two weeks if no candidate exceeds 50% in the first round, and Mississippi has thousands of uncounted eligibility-check ballots.

Reuters reports that India's largest airline, IndiGo, is in talks with Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer about a possible order for 100 jets, according to sources. This is an opinion/student-discussion column, not a factual news claim.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer spoke after Democrats secured enough seats to take control of the Senate in the midterms. This is a listicle/promotional post, not a factual claim worth checking. This is a listicle/promotional post, not a factual claim worth checking. This is a listicle/promotional post, not a factual claim worth checking. This is an opinion column by Anthony Watts, not a factual news claim. The headline disputes a New York Times climate report but does

Fact-check

VERIFIED TRUE

Both the Alaska and Mississippi Senate races remain unresolved as of Wednesday morning. Alaska's ranked-choice tabulation could take more than two weeks if no candidate exceeds 50% in the first round, and Mississippi has thousands of uncounted eligibility-check ballots.

Mississippi, Alaska Senate races could take days or weeks to determine https://t.co/BSR7mZUyoK

Original post · @politico

[cbsnews.com](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-race-unresolved-in-alaska-as-candidates-expect-weekslong-process/) / [washingtonpost.com](https://www.washingt

VERIFIED TRUE

Reuters reports that India's largest airline, IndiGo, is in talks with Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer about a possible order for 100 jets, according to sources. This is an opinion/student-discussion column, not a factual news claim.

EXCLUSIVE: India's IndiGo in talks with Embraer to buy 100 jets, sources say https://t.co/gKh4pVHaeo

Original post · @Reuters

[reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com) NAMES: IndiGo = India's largest domestic airline; Embraer = Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. POST 2118007723266638268: NO

VERIFIED TRUE

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer spoke after Democrats secured enough seats to take control of the Senate in the midterms. This is a listicle/promotional post, not a factual claim worth checking. This is a listicle/promotional post, not a factual claim worth checking. This is a listicle/promotional post, not a factual claim worth checking. This is an opinion column by Anthony Watts, not a factual news claim. The headline disputes a New York Times climate report but does not itself present a checkable factual assertion beyond the opinion writer's framing.

Senate Democrat leader Chuck Schumer speaks after midterms https://t.co/aiVianWXgg

Original post · @Reuters

[reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com) NAMES: Chuck Schumer = Senate Democratic leader from New York. POST 2116498157785981345: NOCLAIM None NAMES: None. POST 2

Sources

What the hosts said

BTwo Senate races still have no winner this morning, and one of them might not have one for weeks.
BAlaska and Mississippi, right? The last two uncalled races in the country.
BExactly. Alaska's between Mary Peltola and Dan Sullivan, separated by less than a point with seventy percent counted. Mississippi is even tighter — Democrat Scott Colom is ahead by fewer than fifty votes in some tallies.
BAnd Democrats already have the Senate majority, so this is just about the final margin.
BRight, but it's also about how long it takes to get a result. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, so if nobody hits fifty percent, they do a tabulation fifteen days after Election Day. Peltola herself said it'll be weeks, not hours or days.
BAnd that's a problem? Maybe taking time means getting it right.
BNo, it's a problem because it leaves two states without full representation for weeks. You can't just have a Senate seat in limbo.
BBut ranked-choice ensures the winner has majority support. That's worth waiting for.
BMajority support? Sullivan had forty-eight percent, Peltola forty-seven. The other candidates get eliminated and their ballots redistributed, so the final winner might not even be the first choice of most voters. That's not clean.
BBut it prevents a candidate winning with thirty-five percent because the field was split. It's more democratic than plurality.
BDemocratic with an asterisk. Meanwhile, Mississippi — no ranked-choice there, just thousands of uncounted eligibility-check ballots. That's a different kind of mess.
BBoth races are toss-ups according to CBS's elections director. And Trump won Alaska in 2024, so a Democrat doing this well there says something.
BIt says federal spending cuts are unpopular in a state that depends on them. Independent voters are swinging away from Republicans on that issue.
BOr it says Peltola is a strong local candidate. She was a congresswoman, she knows the state.
BBoth can be true. But the bigger story is that these races don't change control, just padding. Democrats get to say they won in a red state.
BThey already did that in Texas, now Alaska? That's a pattern.
BLet's not get ahead of ourselves. Alaska's not called yet. And Mississippi's a coin flip.
BFine, but the fact we're still waiting days after the election — that's the story. Maybe we need to fix election infrastructure.
BYou can't just 'fix' ranked-choice; it's designed to take time. And the hand-count precincts in remote Alaska? That's just geography.
BGeography is not an excuse for a two-week delay in 2026.
BIt's not a delay, it's the law. The tabulation is scheduled fifteen days out.
BWhatever the reason, people deserve to know who represents them.
BThey will. Eventually.
BAnd while we're on international deals, India's biggest airline is looking south.
BThat's your line. Reuters exclusive: IndiGo is in talks with Brazil's Embraer to buy a hundred jets.
BIndiGo? They've been all-Airbus for years. This would be a big shift.
BRight, and it's not just about jets. It's about India diversifying suppliers, playing Airbus and Boeing against each other.
BEmbraer makes smaller regional jets, so maybe they're expanding into new routes.
BCould be. But a hundred jets is a serious order, worth billions. The sources didn't give a timeline, but this is moving.
BIt's also a signal that India's aviation market is still booming, even with global uncertainty.
BAnd it's a win for Brazil's manufacturing sector. They need that.
BFor sure. We'll see if Boeing gets a piece of any future orders.
BThey'd better hope so. Big if it happens.

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