JACKSON, Miss. — Democrats already control the Senate, but two races are still unresolved days after Election Day, and both are turning into courtroom brawls. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom holds a lead of roughly 2,500 votes over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola leads Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by just 637 votes with about three-quarters of the ballots counted, according to Associated Press tallies cited by USA Today.

Neither race will change which party runs the chamber. Democrats claimed the Senate on election night, with a 54-44 edge in the count reported Saturday. But the outcomes will decide how big that majority is, and they carry symbolic weight that both parties are fighting over.

Mississippi: A Historic Upset Hangs on Affidavit Ballots

Colom, a district attorney, is under one percentage point ahead. The Associated Press has not called the race. A Colom victory would be the first Democratic Senate win in Mississippi since 1982 and would make him the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction.

The fight centers on roughly 20,000 outstanding ballots, by Republican estimates, many of them affidavit ballots, the state's version of provisional ballots, cast by voters who lacked photo ID or were missing from the rolls. Voters have until Nov. 10 to resolve problems with those ballots. An analysis by the Mississippi Free Press of the few counties that have finished counting indicates Colom is outperforming among affidavit votes.

Hyde-Smith's campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have asked all 82 counties to set affidavit ballots aside and preserve them. Colom's campaign has urged counties to refuse, arguing through its lawyer that pulling aside already-processed ballots would violate state law.

Republican Party Chair Michael Hurst said the party has sent more than 50 volunteer lawyers and observers and vowed to "fight like hell," while insisting "there's no election denying going on here." Because Mississippi allows challenges only county by county, litigation could spread across dozens of courthouses. CBS News reports that Mississippi counties must certify results by Nov. 13.

Alaska: Ranked-Choice Count and the Other Dan Sullivan

Alaska's race is even tighter. Peltola, a former congresswoman, edges the incumbent by 637 votes, but no candidate has reached 50 percent, which triggers Alaska's ranked-choice tabulation. Votes for trailing candidates will be redistributed to their voters' next choices. That count is expected Nov. 18, the same day absentee ballots can still arrive. As USA Today put it, Alaska's final answer is "still more than a week away."

The ballot features a fourth candidate, a retired teacher who is also named Dan Sullivan. Republicans warned the identical name would confuse voters, but the Alaska Supreme Court declined to remove him, and the state has ordered a criminal probe tied to the controversy. His votes will be redistributed in the ranked-choice round, which makes the second-choice preferences of his supporters a wild card in a race decided by hundreds of votes.

The Justice Department's Failed Pre-Election Gambit

Before the election, the Justice Department sued to block certification of Alaska's result if the incumbent lost. A federal judge dismissed that case two days before Nov. 3, and the department has vowed to appeal. Separately, the Supreme Court rejected a Justice Department bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots.

On Nov. 6, a group supporting Peltola sued the state Division of Elections to obtain the names of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected so those voters can fix problems. The state refused. The Alaska Department of Law said, "The Division has protected this information for years and will ask the court to protect it too," Reuters reported.

Why It Matters Beyond the Margin

Two seats may sound minor when Democrats already hold 54. But a bigger majority gives Senate Democrats more room to lose defectors on confirmations and legislation, and it deepens the rebuke to President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans after midterms in which Democrats flipped more than 40 House seats.

For voters, the larger lesson is about process. Affidavit ballots, ranked-choice counting and state-by-state certification deadlines will determine who is seated, and the rules differ sharply between the two states. Expect days of litigation, recount demands and public pressure on county officials. The first major checkpoints are Nov. 10 in Mississippi for resolving affidavit ballots, Nov. 13 for county certification there, and Nov. 18 for Alaska's ranked-choice result.

Until then, two incumbent Republican senators are trailing, two Democratic challengers are within sight of historic wins, and both parties' lawyers are already on the ground.