Democrat Mary Peltola holds a razor-thin lead over Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s US Senate race, but the contest remains too close to call two days after the midterm elections, with nearly a quarter of ballots still uncounted.
According to the Associated Press tally, Peltola has 102,962 votes (48.2 per cent) to Sullivan’s 102,325 (47.9 per cent) — a margin of just 637 votes with an estimated 74 per cent of ballots counted. The AP has not called the race. A third candidate, Daniel Sullivan — a retired teacher who shares the senator’s name — has about 3,600 votes.
Because neither leading candidate has passed 50 per cent of first-choice votes, the race is heading for Alaska’s ranked-choice tabulation, scheduled for 18 November. Under the system, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their supporters’ ballots are transferred to the next candidate they ranked, a process that could still change the outcome.
Alaska is one of only two states to use ranked-choice voting for statewide elections, and its vast distances make counting slow at the best of times. Ballots from remote precincts must be flown in, and military and overseas voters’ ballots can arrive up to 15 days after election day, provided they were posted by 3 November. Domestic absentee ballots can arrive until 13 November, and state officials expect to certify the results by 25 November.
Peltola acknowledged the long wait on election night. “It won’t be hours, it won’t be days, it will be weeks,” she told supporters.
The stakes go beyond Alaska. Democrats have already flipped seven Senate seats and retaken control of the chamber, and Alaska — along with Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes — will decide the final size of their majority.
The Alaska race drew national attention before polling day over the two candidates named Dan Sullivan. The Justice Department sent letters to groups about the second Sullivan, and a federal judge dismissed its attempt to block certification of the election. Sullivan, first elected in 2014, is seeking a third six-year term. Peltola previously served as Alaska’s sole representative in the House.
Note: the vote figures cited here are from the Associated Press’s live tally and will change as counting continues.
Sources: Associated Press election results (https://apnews.com/projects/elections-2026/); USA Today (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/11/05/alaska-senate-election-results-mary-peltola-dan-sullivan/92623296007/)
