by Kate Brmback When Scott Colom takes the oath of office for the U.S. Senate in January, he will not be the first Black senator from Mississippi to make history. But he will be the first in nearly 150 years and the first chosen by voters rather than state lawmakers. Colom, a Democrat, was declared the winner Wednesday over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. His victory marked a major shift in a state with the nation’s largest proportional share of Black people but where white conservatives have largely held political power for decades. “There have been a lot of elections wherein…

by Becky Bohrer JUNEAU, Alaska  — An Alaska judge ruled Wednesday that a request by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign for a list of absentee voters whose ballots have been rejected is “not reasonable,” particularly given the time crunch election officials face as they continue counting ballots from last week’s election. Ballots are still being tallied in the ranked vote election, in which Peltola and two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan are the main contenders. Alaska’s is the only Senate race in the country that remained too early to call. The state accepts ballots up to 15 days after…

\by Deng Machol and Edith M. Lederer JUBA, South Sudan  — The African Union’s top representative for South Sudanurged the United Nations to help ensure that a critical election in the conflict-torn East African nation next month passes peacefully and without violence. Despite a 2018 peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war, South Sudan still sees armed fighting, violence and displacement of people — and there are concerns that elections could further unravel the fragile peace. Jakaya Kikwete, the AU’s top envoy for South Sudan and Tanzania’s former president, made the appeal for assistance in a video call to…

by Bill Barrow and Sophie Bates JACKSON, Miss.  — Democratic nominee Scott Colom has defeated Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi’s closely contested U.S. Senate race after a prolonged ballot counting process, giving the state its first Black U.S. senator since post-Civil War Reconstruction. Colom’s narrow victory is a seismic shift in Mississippi, which has been controlled mostly by white conservatives for generations, and it will echo through the country as well. The outcome adds to a decisive midterm rebuke of President Donald Trump, whose party suffered defeats in several Republican-controlled states, and it will bolster some Democrats’ argument that…

by Edward-Isaac Dovere Raphael Warnock wasn’t trying to make the crowd laugh. “There’s one race I think we’re sleeping on, and that’s Mississippi,” the Georgia senator said as he talked up Democrats’ big plans for the year at a Washington, DC, fundraiser in April. Warnock had been beating the drum for the Senate race in the deep-red state going back to last November, eagerly pointing out to anyone who’d listen that the percentage of Black voters in Mississippi was higher than in Georgia, which itself had defied history to elect him twice. But the attendees did laugh, according to a…

by Darlene Superville, Seung Min Kim and Joey Cappelletti WASHINGTON  — The White House has issued a warning to Democrats over their planned probes into the Trump administration, going as far as claiming that such investigations — a standard oversight function of Congress — may amount to “blatant criminality.” White House counsel Will Scharf issued the warning in a letter dated Monday to Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. Garcia most likely would chair the powerful panel in the new Democratic-controlled Congress that is seated in January. Garcia warned Trump officials to “lawyer up” as…

by Mary Clare Jalonick WASHINGTON  — Senators from both parties returned to Washington on Monday with questions about the future of their leadership after last week’s election decisively gave Democrats a significant new majority. Republicans who are losing around a quarter of their conference to election losses and retirements are debating whether to immediately reelect South Dakota Sen. John Thune as leader in votes scheduled for Tuesday. Across the aisle, Democrats who could hold as many as 56 seats next year are having private discussions about whether New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is still the right person to lead them,…

by Geoff  Mulvihill Democrats have taken control of the state House in Georgia after also gaining the governor’s office in last week’s midterm election, giving the party control of each for the first time in more than 20 years. The flip gives Democrats control of at least 12 new legislative chambers across the U.S. after their major gains at all levels. It’s the biggest gain for either party in a single election since the Republicans took the majority in 20 chambers in 2010 amid the Great Recession and the rise of the conservative tea party movement. After officials are sworn…

by Gerald Imray CAPE TOWN, South Africa  — The African National Congress once rose above politics in South Africa as a movement dedicated to freeing the country from the oppression of apartheid with the lofty principles of democracy, equality and a better life for all. It was widely revered as a force for good when it became South Africa’s ruling party in 1994 under Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years by the apartheid regime for his opposition to the system of racial segregation. But three decades after the ANC transformed from a liberation movement to a political party…

by Jay Cohen CHICAGO (AP) — Caleb Williams found a wide-open Colston Loveland for a 38-yard catch to set up Cairo Santos’ 38-yard field goal as time expired, and the Chicago Bears picked up a sloppy 27-24 victory over Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night. Chicago (7-2) committed five turnovers, including a career-high four interceptions by Williams. But he delivered after Mayfield rallied the Buccaneers in the final minutes. Loveland was pushed out of bounds at the Tampa Bay 16 with 40 seconds left. After two kneel-downs by Williams, Santos delighted the crowd of 60,470 by…