Democrat Scott Colom holds a slim but growing lead over Republican incumbent Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's undecided U.S. Senate race, three days after Election Day.

According to The New York Times, the latest vote report showed Colom leading by 2,574 votes, citing The Associated Press, with election officials still counting ballots. NBC News shows Colom at 49.1% to Hyde-Smith's 48.8%, with about 31,000 votes estimated outstanding and the race too close to call.

Hyde-Smith would need to win 53.2% of the remaining vote to overtake him, per NBC News.

The result would be historic on multiple fronts. The New York Times reports that if Colom wins, he would be the first Democrat to capture a Senate seat in Mississippi in 44 years and the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction.

Democracy Docket reports turnout skyrocketed this year — over 950,000 votes counted versus just 710,000 in the last midterms, when Mississippi ranked last in the nation for turnout.

The data points to a broad swing toward Democrats. Exit polls show Colom winning 97% of Black voters and 58% of women, while Hyde-Smith carried 71% of white voters.

Hyde-Smith led early with about 30% of votes counted, but as more ballots were processed, Colom edged ahead, BBC reports. Democracy Docket says Colom's lead has widened steadily, from 1,813 votes Thursday evening to 2,574 by Friday night.

The stakes extend well beyond one seat. Democrats already wrested back control of the Senate and House on Tuesday, winning at least 54 Senate and 253 House seats, their largest majorities since the early Obama years, The New York Times reports.

Colom's win would expand that margin further.

A court fight is already brewing: the Times reports Hyde-Smith's lawyers formally asked election officials to preserve provisional ballots, a signal she may challenge the results, and her campaign urged officials to segregate provisional ballots, per BBC, which Colom's campaign called a "desperate stunt."

Chuck Schumer has dispatched extra legal and campaign resources to the state, BBC reports.

Mississippians may wait days more for a resolution. Mail-in ballots can continue arriving and provisional ballots can be verified until Tuesday, and counties have until Nov.

13 to certify results, The New York Times reports. BBC notes Mississippi has no automatic recounts for tight races and does not allow candidates to request one, and about 3,300 absentee ballots plus several thousand affidavit ballots remained outstanding.

University of Mississippi professor Julie Wronski told BBC the race likely won't be called until at least Nov. 10, because every single vote must be counted given the narrow margin.

The Mississippi contest caps a broader Democratic wave driven by voter displeasure over rising prices, The New York Times reports.

Republicans suffered their worst performance since the aftermath of Watergate, and President Trump defended his role late Thursday by arguing his party lost because he was not on the ballot — though Utah Senator John Curtis blamed the president directly: "This was about the president and the president's policies."

Other upsets followed: former Navy admiral Nancy Lacore flipped a South Carolina House seat, and a Kansas Democrat won a Senate race for the first time since the 1930s, per the Times.