JACKSON, MISS. — More than a day after polls closed, Mississippi's U.S. Senate race was still too close to call Wednesday, with Democrat Scott Colom clinging to a lead measured in dozens of votes over three-term Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith — and no mechanism in state law to force an automatic recount if it stays this tight.

With roughly 96% of the expected vote counted, Colom led 462,857 votes to Hyde-Smith's 462,792, a margin of 65 votes, according to a Mississippi Free Press live tally. The lead has changed hands repeatedly since polls closed Tuesday night, with the reported margin swinging from double digits to over a thousand votes and back as counties finished tabulating affidavit and provisional ballots.

Both candidates are publicly confident. Hyde-Smith's campaign says it is "closely monitoring" the count and expects she will be reelected once "every legally cast vote" is tallied; some reports indicated she told supporters Tuesday night she had already won. Colom, for his part, struck a more measured tone: "We will protect the process of this election," he said, according to a separate Mississippi Free Press report.

WE WILL PROTECT THE PROCESS OF THIS ELECTION

No automatic recount — and thousands of ballots still out

Unlike many states, Mississippi has no automatic recount provision for a race this close, ABC News reported, meaning any challenge to the outcome would likely have to come through a court petition rather than a routine retabulation. Colom's campaign has estimated that 10,000 to 15,000 affidavit ballots — cast by voters whose eligibility was challenged at the polls — remain to be reviewed, a pool far larger than the margin currently separating the two candidates.

The stakes extend well beyond one Senate seat. A Colom victory would make him the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Mississippi since John Stennis in 1982, breaking more than four decades of Republican control of the seat, and he would be the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction.

What's next

County election officials have until early next week to certify their results under Mississippi law, after which the state's board of election commissioners must certify the statewide outcome. If the final margin remains within a fraction of a percentage point, either campaign could seek a court-ordered review, though neither side had filed anything in court as of Wednesday night. Both national parties are treating the seat as a potential pickup that could shape the chamber's working majority for the next two years, and outside legal teams from both parties were reported to be monitoring the count in Jackson.