Democrats edge ahead in the last two uncalled Senate races

Two U.S. Senate races are still uncalled, and Democrats have nudged ahead in both. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith 49.1% to 48.8%, with 99% of votes counted, according to USA TODAY's tally as of Nov. 9 around 8:30 p.m. ET. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola sits at 49% to Sen. Dan Sullivan's 47.2%, with roughly 87.3% of ballots counted as of Nov. 10.

Mississippi's count is grinding forward county by county. The Secretary of State's office said Nov. 10 that 76 of the state's 82 counties had submitted uncertified results and four had certified them, with a Friday, Nov. 13 deadline to upload. Secretary of State Michael Watson said about 2,300 absentee mail-in ballots still haven't been received and more than 18,000 affidavit ballots have been processed.

Colom isn't waiting on the paperwork. He told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Nov. 9 that he's projecting a win, pointing to the state's late-counting ballots. Asked about the trend, he said: 'I follow Mississippi politics. It always – the affidavit and absentee ballots always trend Democratic.'

Alaska has its own math problem. The Division of Elections reported more than 245,000 ballots counted as of Nov. 10, with 401 of the state's 403 precincts reporting. Because Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, a candidate needs more than 50% to win outright — and under state law the ranked-choice tally wouldn't start until Nov. 18.

The stakes stretch past these two states. Democrats have already flipped seven seats to take back control of the Senate in the midterms, and the last two races will decide how wide that majority gets.