Hakeem Jeffries bounded onto a Washington DC stage on Tuesday night, basking in the confidence of a newly crowned leader.

‘America is back,’ proclaimed the next Speaker of the House as Biggie Smalls, his fellow Brooklynite, played for the crowd. Jeffries described the midterms as ‘a change election’ and said voters had delivered a clear message: ‘Enough of the extremism.’

By January 3, however, some members of his own party may be ready to test that unity.

Across the country, voters elected a wave of local, state and federal officials who are further to the left than many of their predecessors.

Jeffries’s Democratic caucus now includes at least eight members of the Democratic Socialists of America, up from two in the previous term. Among them is a woman who once called for ‘a world without prisons or police’ and urged the United States to ‘literally, abolish the border.’

In the Senate, fellow Brooklynite Chuck Schumer, the incoming majority leader, will have to work with Abdul El-Sayed, arguably one of the most left-wing senators ever elected. He nearly had a fully fledged DSA member alongside him as well: Angie Nixon narrowly lost her Florida Senate race.

For Ashik Siddique, the results could hardly be more welcome.

Siddique, co-chair of the DSA’s national political committee, told the Daily Mail that Tuesday’s vote marked only the start of the organization’s advance. He highlighted the victory of his ‘rainbow-headed’ colleague Ashley Herrmann, 38, who flipped a Republican-held state Senate seat near Tampa, Florida.

Hakeem Jeffries bounded onto a Washington DC stage on Tuesday night, basking in the confidence of a newly crowned leader

Ashik Siddique, co-chair of the DSA’s national political committee, pictured here with Zohran Mamdani, told the Daily Mail that Tuesday’s vote marked only the start of the organization’s advance

Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate majority leader, will have to work with Abdul El-Sayed

‘These results are not a flash in the pan,’ Siddique said, pointing out that DSA membership has grown from 6,000 in 2016 to 130,000 today. ‘Democratic Socialists of America are building an enduring organization that can lead an enduring movement.’

‘We’re now seeing DSA candidates win re-election to second or third terms across the country. We ran more candidates in this cycle than ever before. I think there were at least 200 candidates at many levels of government, from local offices up to Congress. So we’re really leading the conversation and helping to shift public opinion on a wide range of issues.’

Siddique said the DSA was moving the policy debate to the left, noting that even Donald Trump had discussed ending military aid to Israel on the eve of the election.

‘Nobody thought 10 years ago that abolishing ICE was a popular sentiment when we were saying it, but now it has popular support,’ he said. ‘When we said “Free Palestine,” that was not a popular sentiment among Americans 10 years ago, but now it is, and majorities of Americans across parties support a full arms embargo against the state of Israel.’

According to Siddique, DSA candidates largely campaigned on affordable housing, Medicare for All, universal childcare, moratoriums on AI data centers and abolishing ICE.

‘These are very popular things, and when you look at the range of issues our candidates ran on, it’s clear that we’ve been driving the conversation and the direction of the political left more broadly,’ he added.

But what happens when those candidates take their seats in January and confront the Democratic establishment? Could the party be heading toward an internal conflict?

Siddique responded with a chuckle.

Wouldn’t the tension between the party’s old guard and its rising left flank be difficult to manage?

‘It can be, for sure,’ he said. ‘But we have experience now with DSA members in office. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib have built strong records of applying pressure when it matters, standing on principle, even when they are part of a small minority voting against certain measures or casting lonely votes for programs not backed by party leaders. That bloc is now growing.’

Siddique said the DSA was moving the policy debate to the left, noting that even Donald Trump had discussed ending military aid to Israel on the eve of the election

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, pictured with Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul

At the forefront of the newcomers on January 3 will be 32-year-old New Yorker Darializa Avila Chevalier, known as DAC, who is following in AOC’s footsteps.

As recently as 2020, Avila Chevalier tweeted that ‘the pyromania associated with anarchism is very intriguing to me.’ She also called for open borders, demanded the closure of prisons and advocated ‘ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all ever.’

The old posts have since been deleted. During the campaign, after her Democratic primary rival raised them, she said: ‘My opponent wants to live in the past. He is re-litigating social media posts from half a decade ago, and continuing to champion an outdated politics that fails to serve our people. I have grown considerably in the years since these tweets, and I am focused on our community and our community’s future.’

Even so, when Vanity Fair’s editor-in-chief asked her in an October 30 interview whether a murderer should be imprisoned, she avoided giving a direct answer.

Chevalier also said Jeffries would receive her support for Speaker only if he committed to advancing Medicare for All, voting rights, investment in public housing and an end to taxpayer funding for foreign wars.

Schumer may face an even more challenging relationship with his new colleague.

Abdul El-Sayed, elected in Michigan as the first Muslim member of the US Senate, will arrive in Washington in January with his characteristic swagger—and perhaps more of it than usual.

‘They told us that the establishment was too strong, that DC was going to dictate who won and who lost, that Washington and its special interests didn’t want us,’ El-Sayed declared Tuesday night. ‘They want an America that is too small for some of us. We know that America is big enough for all of us.’

Even before taking his seat in Congress, he could not resist taunting his Republican opponents.

‘Together, fighting for something bigger, we won,’ he said. ‘So Mike, enjoy your retirement. I know you got a house in Florida and two yachts. See, you chose hate and Michigan chose hope. May we never have to see the likes of you in this state again.

‘JD, habibi, there is this delicious irony in the fact that you’re constitutionally obligated to swear me in January. So you know what that means? Wolverine one, Buckeye zero.’

‘Donald, look, I know you struggled with my name. So after JD swears me in January, you could just go on and call me Senator.’

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The question now is whether Schumer and Jeffries can rein in the newly elected lawmakers—and whether they even want to try.

Sam Seder, an actor and progressive political commentator, attacked Schumer’s victory speech Tuesday night, describing it as lackluster and disconnected from the moment.

The question now is whether Schumer and Jeffries can rein in the newly elected lawmakers—and whether they even want to try

Sam Seder, an actor and progressive political commentator, attacked Schumer’s victory speech Tuesday night, describing it as lackluster and disconnected from the moment

‘Jesus f***ing Christ! Are you f***ing kidding me?’ Seder ranted. ‘You just had an election where the Democrats ran the board in a way that has not happened in maybe 50 years. Do you not have a script f***ing writer?! Dude, are you serious?!’

He added: ‘Like, I don’t like his politics, but how do you not just do the basic f***ing fundamentals?!’

So, is a Democratic civil war taking shape?

‘It’s possible, and Democrats are certainly capable of that,’ said Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘The old joke about Democrats is that when they need a firing squad, they form into a circle.

‘But they will certainly need to figure out what their central message is, and the left wing of the party will demand a seat at the table.’

Reeher urged Democrats to ‘remain focused on economic issues.’

‘But part of the left wing wants to lean hard on cultural issues as well. Will they be able to let that go, to some extent?’

Lincoln Mitchell, a professor of political science at Columbia University, said talk of a Democratic civil war was ‘being too dramatic.’

He noted that Jeffries and Schumer both have comfortable margins, making it difficult for smaller factions to hold them hostage.

‘The example I give is AOC,’ Mitchell told the Daily Mail. ‘AOC came in with heated rhetoric, and then after a few months she realized: I can either fight with Nancy Pelosi or I can become relevant.’

‘My representative in Congress as of January is Darializa Avila Chevalier. She’s maybe, of the newer people, the most extreme left. My district, which includes some very low-income communities, is a mixed economic district.

‘Is she going to be unable to bring things back to the district because she picked a fight with Hakeem Jeffries? If so, I can point to a few candidates who are licking their chops to run against her in 2028.’

Some observers, however, see the election as evidence that moderate Democrats are also gaining strength. They point to the victories of pastor and farmer Adam Hamilton in Kansas, middle school teacher James Talarico in Texas, physician Annie Andrews in South Carolina and the re-election of centrist Jon Ossoff in Georgia.

‘AOC came in with heated rhetoric, and then after a few months she realized: I can either fight with Nancy Pelosi or I can become relevant,’ said Lincoln Mitchell, a professor of political science

Darializa Avila Chevalier, US Representative-elect for New York’s 13th congressional district, is among the most left-wing candidates elected in the midterms

Jon Ossoff’s victory in Georgia is viewed by some as evidence that moderate Democrats are gaining ground

Ossoff’s campaign highlighted that he was ‘the only Democratic US Senator up for reelection in a state Trump won.’

Johanna Maska, a political strategist who worked in the Obama White House, said the Blue Wave’s strength lay partly in its diversity.

‘The future lies in Democrats. Period,’ she told the Daily Mail, adding that voters in each state had chosen candidates who spoke directly to their concerns. Their records, she said, would now begin to speak for themselves.

‘Here’s the thing about someone like New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Trump tried to say he was a jihadist and all these things before the election, and in the aftermath, all the guy’s been doing is governing, and it got so popular that he’s like filling potholes.’

‘People here in LA are saying, “Mamdani, can you help us?”’

Some observers see the election as evidence that moderate Democrats are also gaining strength, pointing to the victory of pastor and farmer Adam Hamilton in Kansas

That group of moderates also included middle school teacher James Talarico in Texas

The central question, of course, is whether the party’s competing factions will be willing to work together.

‘Today begins the great American comeback,’ Jeffries declared, striking—for now—a note of unity.

‘This is not a partisan moment; this is a patriot one,’ he concluded.

‘This is not a blue moment, or a red moment—it is a red, white and blue moment because America has won tonight.’

The DSA, naturally, interpreted the result in a different way.

The election, the organization wrote on X, showed that ‘socialism can win in the US.’

Republican Rep. Michael Lawler of New York was defeated Tuesday by Democratic challenger Cait Conley in a sweeping blue wave, despite strong support from Orthodox Jewish voters across the Hudson Valley’s 17th Congressional District, according to sources.

The two-term lawmaker carried 71% of precincts in the Town of Ramapo, home to a significant Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish population.

But Lawler’s support in traditional Republican strongholds was not enough to overcome the surge of Democratic and anti-Trump voters who backed Conley in the heavily Democratic precincts of Westchester County.

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Lawler led Conley only 55% to 45% — or fewer than 10,000 votes — in Rockland. Conley won the towns of Orangetown, Clarkstown and Haverstraw there, but got swamped in Ramapo.

The incumbent lawmaker also only led Conley in red-leaning Putnam County by 2 percentage points, or about 1,000 votes.

Elijah Reichlin-Melnick, vice chairman and executive director or the Rockland County Democratic Party, said Lawler’s support was down in the county from two years ago — while Conley fared better than Mondaire Jones, the Dem candidate who lost to Lawler in 2024.

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“Lawler knew he needed a firewall of votes in Rockland and Putnam. That firewall simply wasn’t big enough. The numbers were not there for him,” former state Sen. Reichlin-Melnick told The Post on Wednesday.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul also won Rockland County by six percentage points over Republican Bruce Blakeman in Tuesday’s gubernatorial contest, according to state Board of Elections records.

In Westchester, early voting results gave Conley, an Army veteran and former Biden administration national security official, a commanding 2-to-1 lead over Lawler — a difference of approximately 25,000 votes.

Conley led Lawler 52% to 47%, with her advantage expected to widen as officials continued counting ballots after a software malfunction disrupted polling operations at several Westchester locations on Election Day.

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Lawler conceded the race Tuesday, acknowledging the results before later releasing a statement thanking his constituents as he prepares to leave Congress at the end of the year.

Conley released a statement of her own Wednesday, saying she was ready to begin work when she takes office on Jan. 1.

“We have a lot to do to root out the corruption that has taken hold in Washington, lower costs for working families, and make our government serve the people once again,” she said.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you for entrusting me with the privilege of a lifetime. I will never take it for granted, and I promise to fight each and every day for the better, more affordable future we all deserve.”

A Utah teenager who was found alive in Oregon nearly 18 months after she disappeared was allegedly beaten repeatedly and forced to remove her braces with pliers in an effort to conceal her identity, according to newly revealed details in the case.

Kylie Arellano, now 17, disappeared from Garden City, Utah, on May 29, 2025, when she was 15. Federal prosecutors have charged a 39-year-old man in connection with her alleged captivity.

According to court documents reviewed by News Media, Adam Hunter Harmel allegedly became “very violent and aggressive, often hitting” the teenager. He also allegedly used pliers to force her braces off, making it more difficult for authorities to identify her.

Kylie Arellano was reported missing on May 30, 2025. (Rich County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)

The federal complaint describes a disturbing period of alleged confinement inside Harmel’s home. Prosecutors say Arellano was kept in the basement, where she and Harmel shared a bed.

The complaint alleges that Harmel kept “a knife under his pillow and made MV [minor victim] sleep against the wall” to stop her from escaping.

Investigators also say Harmel expressed a desire to start a family with the teenager, claimed he was interested in minors and repeatedly sexually assaulted her during 2025 and 2026.

Harmel allegedly took Arellano across state lines with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.

Authorities said the teenager helped trigger her rescue after revealing her identity to another player she met through the online game “Among Us.” (Rich County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)

Filed Nov. 2 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, the criminal complaint lays out an alleged pattern of grooming, isolation and abuse.

For more than 500 days, Arellano’s mother continued searching for her daughter after finding her jacket abandoned in the driveway and discovering that her phone had been shut off.

The family’s wait ended Nov. 1, when law enforcement rescued Arellano from an Oregon home after receiving a tip from the parent of another “Among Us” player.

In an affidavit, FBI Special Agent Andrea Elder said Arellano’s family reported in 2025 that she had been groomed online. The contact reportedly began on gaming platforms before shifting to other social media applications.

A law enforcement source said the suspect allegedly met the teenager on Snapchat before she vanished.

The FBI also learned during its investigation that Arellano was allegedly groomed on platforms reportedly used by members of Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) groups to solicit sexually explicit and maiming photographs, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Kylie Arellano was 15 when she disappeared from Garden City, Utah. She is now 17. (Rich County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook)

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Authorities allege that Harmel met Arellano online in May 2025, told her he had a disability affecting his “messed up” hips and offered her money to travel to Oregon.

On or around May 29, 2025, Harmel drove from Oregon to Perry, Utah, to pick her up. The complaint says that after Arellano got into his vehicle, he threw her phone into a river in Logan Canyon, drove her to his home in Huntington, Oregon, and told her she could not leave.

A housemate told the FBI that Harmel said he had brought home a “new girlfriend” from Utah. The housemate did not see the teenager until roughly two months later, when she ran back into the basement.

Harmel allegedly gave Arellano a phone without cellular data, restricting her internet access to Wi-Fi, according to the complaint.

Arellano’s opportunity to seek help emerged in mid-October 2026, when she connected with another minor while playing “Among Us.”

After the two moved their conversation to another social media platform, Arellano disclosed her identity and said she was being held against her will in an Oregon man’s home. She also told the minor that she believed police had stopped searching for her.

A knife recovered from the Oregon home where authorities say Kylie Arellano was held. (FBI)

Arellano’s mother alerted the FBI, which monitored a Nov. 1 video call. During the call, the teenager showed investigators the knife Harmel allegedly kept and other evidence supporting her account.

Later that day, Oregon State Police and federal agents rescued Arellano and transported her for medical care.

A search of Harmel’s residence reportedly found knives, BB guns and sexual lubricant, according to the complaint. He was arrested during a traffic stop in Ontario, Oregon.

Harmel was expected to make his initial appearance in federal court Wednesday.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah Melissa Holyoak said the case’s primary concern was ensuring the “safe return of the minor victim.”

“Those who allegedly exploit and prey upon the most vulnerable members of our communities will be relentlessly investigated and held accountable.”

FBI Director Kash Patel delivered a similar message to people who target or exploit children.

“The FBI and our partners are coming for you. We are using every tool at our disposal to combat nihilistic violent extremism, bring offenders to justice, and protect America’s most vulnerable,” he said.

After Tuesday’s sweeping repudiation of MAGA, the responsibility now falls on President Trump to understand what happened—and respond appropriately.

Unfortunately, if his remarks to reporters on Wednesday are any indication, Trump remains unwilling to confront the result.

He appears determined to ignore the unmistakable message from voters: Americans are struggling, and their lives have not improved. If returning the old guard to office is the only way to make that point to Mr. Trump and his political allies, voters seem prepared to do exactly that.

Trump’s conduct after suffering historic losses—including the election of Democrat James Talarico to the Senate in reliably Republican Texas, Maine’s rejection of longtime centrist Republican Susan Collins in favor of Democrat Troy Jackson, and South Carolina’s first Democratic Senate victory in decades—offers little reassurance. In South Carolina, voters turned away Trump’s chosen candidate, Senator Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham.

Not remotely.

With ballots still being counted in Mississippi, a state that has voted overwhelmingly Republican since the 1980s, Trump addressed the media at length. Yet his focus was not the election, the economy or the voters’ concerns. Instead, he talked about the ballroom under construction at the White House, its reflecting pool and the planned arch.

Trump opened his remarks by celebrating the new White House ballroom as “just a tremendous structure, the likes of which has never been done.” He highlighted ceilings more than 50 feet high—“like a five-story building”—before turning to the arch. It would resemble Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, he said, only “better” and “much more beautiful.”

After Tuesday’s sweeping rejection of MAGA, the responsibility now rests with President Trump to understand the result—and respond appropriately. Unfortunately, his Wednesday appearance before the media suggested that he remains in denial.

He continued with descriptions of the gardens, a proposed world-class golf course and the ways he claimed to have “beautified” Washington, DC.

“We just opened the reflecting pool two days ago,” he said enthusiastically. “And it’s magnificent.”

Magnificent?

For many Americans, the spectacle is more likely to be infuriating.

Democrats won decisively because millions of voters are under financial strain—and because Trump failed to deliver on promises to restore manufacturing, reduce prices and make everyday life more affordable.

That pledge appeared explicitly in the 2024 Republican platform. Item three, printed in capital letters, promised: “END INFLATION AND MAKE AMERICA AFFORDABLE AGAIN.”

That message will ring hollow to the typical American spending $70 two or three times a week to fill the tank, commuting to a poorly paid job vulnerable to artificial intelligence, struggling to pay for groceries and worrying about winter heating bills. Those pressures are compounded, in part, by America’s continuing conflict with Iran, long after the public was told its nuclear capabilities had been neutralized.

Millennials, meanwhile, have been shut out of an increasingly expensive housing market. Even those who can assemble a down payment face mortgage rates hovering around 7 percent, a burden that has remained in place for years.

The AP Voter Poll, released on Election Day, found that 75 percent of voters considered the US economy “not good” or “poor.”

Those words could just as easily describe how many people view their own finances. A March 2026 LendingTree survey found that 37 percent of Americans lacked $500 in emergency savings.

For Americans aged 65 to 74, the median balance in 401(k) plans and IRAs is $257,000, according to Investopedia.

That is hardly a secure retirement.

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Four in 10 voters told the AP that the economy was their top concern, with gasoline and grocery prices causing the greatest anxiety.

Immigration, health care and “wokeness” ranked far lower.

But another issue should worry Trump even more: corruption.

The president was elected in 2016 and again in 2024 on promises to “drain the swamp.” He presented himself as wealthy enough to be beyond bribery and graft—unlike what he described as the Biden “crime family.” Yet his administration has increasingly come to symbolize allegations of corruption.

Celebrations surrounding Don Jr.’s second wedding were reportedly funded by a Russian oligarch, with the money returned only after a public backlash.

Former Don Jr. fiancée Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was rumored to have received an ambassadorship to Greece as a way to quietly move her out of the spotlight, was later removed after an alleged appeal to a Trump megadonor to “get this done for me today.” The request reportedly involved covering $100,000 in American Express debt.

Former Trump attorney Alina Habba—who, while serving as a federal prosecutor, signed a $50 million agreement with relatives of a Venezuelan banker later pardoned by Trump—was publicly rebuked by the president. Whether that rebuke carries any lasting significance is another question.

There is also Trump’s latest apparent fixation: the revolving lineup of young, attractive and politically inexperienced women at his side, with Natalie Harp the newest example.

Then came the disastrous appointment of Katie Zacharia, who lasted just five days as White House press secretary. It reinforced the impression that Trump is approaching the final half of his final term without the seriousness the moment demands.

Is this really the legacy he wants? To be remembered as the president who squandered the greatest political comeback in modern American history—then shut out polling, evidence and information that contradicted him?

His behavior on election night suggests that outcome is possible. As aides assembled in the White House East Room, Trump was reportedly isolated upstairs in the private residence with only Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Harp.

The first lady was absent. Marco Rubio also kept his distance.

A senior White House source told the Daily Mail that the atmosphere was “a very dark scene.” By 11 p.m., the source said, Trump was watching Fox News, barely speaking and “paralyzed into silence.”

He later turned to Truth Social to blame Fox News for the devastating losses. His response was far less reflective or measured than his 2024 reaction after he was shot in Butler, when he used his Republican National Convention speech to call for unity.

Will Trump treat this defeat with the seriousness it warrants? Will he once again appeal for unity and make clear that he intends to work not only with Democrats, but on behalf of all Americans?

Will he acknowledge that voters have spoken—and that he understands what they are saying?

If Trump hopes to preserve both his presidency and his legacy, and avoid being remembered as the “Mad King,” he must.

Insisting, as he did, that “we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE” if only he had been on the ballot is not an explanation. It is a rejection of reality.

Trump—and MAGA—were on the ballot. And they lost. By a lot.

A Democratic wave swept across the country Wednesday, costing Republicans control of both chambers of Congress in a powerful rejection of President Trump and his administration.

Democrats are projected to win as many as 258 seats in the House of Representatives, compared with 177 for Republicans, NBC reported. The result would give House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries a potentially commanding majority and put him on course to become the first Black speaker of the House.

The party also captured seven Republican-held Senate seats, giving Democrats control of the upper chamber with 54 seats. Their majority could grow to 56 if Democrats prevail in the two outstanding contests in Alaska and Mississippi.

The outcome ranks among the most consequential midterm election victories in modern political history. Republicans lost both chambers just two years after sweeping to power in 2024.

Jeffries quickly celebrated the Democratic victory, telling supporters Wednesday that voters had rejected the Republican agenda.

“The American people have spoken and made clear they’ve had enough of the extremism, enough of the corruption,” Jeffries said. “They want a Congress that’s going to deliver for the American people, and that is exactly what House Democrats will do.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer likewise hailed the party’s historic win, declaring: “Against all odds, we Democrats have won the Senate. And we have five words for the American people: relief is on the way.”

Democrats flipped Senate seats in Maine, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina. Their victories in several traditionally Republican states helped drive the party’s sweeping comeback.

The House results were just as damaging for Republicans. Democrats made major gains across battleground states, including Iowa, Missouri, Indiana and Michigan, while also picking up seats in Texas, Pennsylvania and California despite Republican efforts to redraw congressional maps to their advantage.

Although Democrats have secured control of Congress, two Senate races remain too close to call and could determine the size of their majority.

Attention is now focused on Alaska and Mississippi, where Democrats are mounting two of the election’s biggest upset bids against Republican incumbents Dan Sullivan and Cindy Hyde-Smith.

In Alaska, Democratic nominee Mary Peltola held a lead of just 626 votes over Sullivan — roughly 0.3 percentage points — with 74% of ballots counted Wednesday afternoon, according to the Associated Press.

The race has also been clouded by allegations that Democrats recruited an independent candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to appear on the ballot alongside Sen. Sullivan in an effort to confuse voters. The candidate was dubbed “Decoy Dan,” and state and federal investigations into the alleged scheme are underway.

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One voter said he left the polling place before realizing he had mistakenly voted for the wrong candidate, Dan Sullivan.

Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system remains the biggest barrier to declaring a winner.

Peltola leads the initial tally but has not reached the majority needed for an outright victory. If no candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated and those voters’ ranked preferences will be redistributed until one contender secures a majority.

Alaska’s ranked-choice tabulation is scheduled for Nov. 18, while eligible absentee ballots continue to arrive. The state is aiming to certify the results on Nov. 25, meaning the winner may not be known for several weeks.

Mississippi is witnessing an even closer contest.

As of 3:15 p.m. EST Wednesday, Democrat Scott Colom led Hyde-Smith by only 65 votes, with approximately 96% of ballots counted. The candidates were each receiving about 48.9% of the vote, according to the AP.

Colom’s late momentum was driven partly by strong Democratic support in Hinds County and several majority-Black counties in the Mississippi Delta and the southwestern part of the state.

A Colom victory would represent a major political breakthrough in Mississippi, where a Democrat has not won a Senate race since 1982.

Democrats have cited increased Black voter turnout as one possible explanation for Hyde-Smith’s unexpectedly competitive race. They have also pointed to controversy surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which upended majority-Black congressional districts.

Hyde-Smith, however, still has reason to remain optimistic about her reelection prospects. President Trump carried Mississippi by nearly 23 percentage points in 2024, highlighting the state’s strong Republican tilt.

Outstanding absentee and affidavit ballots could delay a final result for several days.

With Democrats already celebrating their takeover in Washington, the remaining Senate contests will determine whether the party finishes with a 54-, 55- or 56-seat majority.