Mary Peltola has widened her lead over Republican Senator Dan Sullivan to 10,412 votes in Alaska’s US Senate race, the last contest in the country still without a winner, after the latest count added more than 22,000 ballots on Friday.
The Alaska Division of Elections’ unofficial report, published on Friday evening, showed 279,334 ballots counted, with Peltola on 138,240 votes to Sullivan’s 127,828. Republican Gerald Heikes had 5,885 votes and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher from Petersburg who shares the incumbent’s name, had 4,560. Peltola stood at 49.84 per cent of the vote once write-ins were included, just short of the outright majority that would settle the race without further counting.
The Associated Press estimates that about 96 per cent of ballots have now been counted. Because no candidate has secured more than half of first-choice votes, the race will go to a ranked-choice tabulation on 18 November, the last day overseas ballots can arrive. Certification is targeted for 25 November.
Peltola’s lead has grown steadily since election night, when she was ahead by just 637 votes. An earlier count on Friday had put her ahead by 5,800. Her tally is now larger than the combined votes for both men named Sullivan, a point that undercuts the premise of a Justice Department lawsuit filed on 22 October seeking to block certification if Sullivan lost, on the grounds that voters might have been confused by the two names. A federal judge dismissed that case on 1 November, and the department’s appeal is not on an expedited track.
The stakes reach beyond Alaska. The race is the only Senate contest still undecided after the 3 November midterms, in which Democrats swept to control of Congress. A Peltola victory would give the Democrats a 56-seat majority in the Senate and make her the first Indigenous Alaskan elected to the chamber. If Sullivan holds his seat, the Democratic caucus would be limited to 55 seats.
Sullivan, a two-term senator and former Alaska attorney general, has campaigned on resource development and military expansion in the north and is a close ally of President Donald Trump. Peltola, a former congresswoman, has presented herself as an independent-minded Democrat in a state that has long rewarded candidates who cross party lines.
Elsewhere in Alaska’s statewide elections, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins won the governor’s race with 50.8 per cent of the vote, while in the US House race Republican Nick Begich led with 47.8 per cent against 41.7 per cent for Democratic-endorsed independent Bill Hill. Voters also rejected Ballot Measure 2, which would have repealed Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.
Note: The figures in this article come from the Alaska Division of Elections’ unofficial report as published by local outlets; the Associated Press has not yet called the race, and the result remains subject to the ranked-choice tabulation on 18 November.
Sources: The Business Standard, https://www.tbsnews.net/worldbiz/usa/peltola-extends-lead-alaska-senate-race-final-count-approaches-1601921 ; The Alaska Story, https://thealaskastory.com/peltola-hits-49-84-on-election-results-page-vances-lead-shrinks-to-13-votes/ ; Democracy Docket, https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/democrat-peltola-widens-lead-over-both-sullivans-combined-in-alaska-senate-race/
