Featured photo: Alaska State Capitol in Juneau (file photo). Photo: James Brooks, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by 637 votes in preliminary results in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, with more than 215,000 votes counted, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Peltola had 102,962 votes and Sullivan had 102,325, the newspaper reported. The race remained uncalled in the latest reports. Ranked-choice tabulation is set to begin Nov. 18, Alaska Public Media reported.
Related: Democrats Win Control of Congress, AP Projects, Flipping 7 GOP Senate Seats
What we know
The Anchorage Daily News listed Peltola at 48% and Sullivan at 47.7%. The New York Daily News reported about 48.2% to 47.9% in Thursday’s count. Republican Gerald L. Heikes was third with 4,846 votes, and a second candidate named Sullivan, listed as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.,” was fourth with 3,600, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
Analysts estimated that 50,000 to 75,000 ballots remained outstanding, Alaska Public Media reported on Nov. 4. The New York Daily News reported on Nov. 5 that about 78% of estimated ballots had been counted. Overseas ballots can be accepted up to 15 days after the election, the Associated Press reported.
Senate control does not hang on Alaska: NBC News and the AP have projected that Democrats will hold the majority, as The Boston Report’s National Election Tracker shows.
Peltola campaign sues over absentee records
The Peltola campaign sued Alaska election officials on Friday in Anchorage Superior Court, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The suit names the Division of Elections, Director Carol Beecher and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and alleges a violation of the Alaska Public Records Act. The campaign seeks information showing whether specific absentee ballots are likely to be accepted or rejected, and why.
“Alaska’s constitution and laws do not require the Division to provide this information in the manner requested by the campaign,” Department of Law spokesperson Sam Curtis said, the newspaper reported.
The namesake candidate dispute
The New York Times reported on Oct. 28 that top Peltola political aides appeared to have been involved in recruiting the second Dan Sullivan to run, according to the AP’s summary of that report. The AP said the Times relied on interviews with a former Peltola campaign manager and that federal authorities have confirmed a criminal investigation. Officials have not said what laws, if any, may have been broken, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Peltola has denied involvement, and the second Sullivan has denied running at Democrats’ behest, the AP reported.
Trump and the Sullivan campaign respond
In a Truth Social post on Thursday, President Donald Trump called for votes cast for the other candidates, including the namesake, to be given to Sen. Sullivan, writing, “There is no other fair solution!” the New York Daily News reported. Separately, the Justice Department sued to block certification; a federal judge dismissed the suit, and the department has appealed, the AP reported.
The Sullivan campaign circulated a memo projecting victory, Alaska Public Media reported. A campaign analysis said he would win by 328 votes had ranked-choice tabulation run on election day, and it excluded 10,805 rural votes, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
What happens next
Alaska Public Media listed count updates for Tuesday, Nov. 10, expected to be the largest, and Friday, Nov. 13, before tabulation on Nov. 18. The Anchorage Daily News reported that more results were expected Monday or Tuesday and that certification is set for Nov. 25. In the governor’s race, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins had 49% of first-choice votes as of Nov. 4 to Republican Bernadette Wilson’s roughly 29%, Alaska Public Media reported. The Boston Report does not call races. More coverage is on the politics hub.
Sources
- Anchorage Daily News: Trump weighs in on Alaska’s tight U.S. Senate race as thousands of ballots are yet to be tallied
- Anchorage Daily News: Peltola campaign sues Alaska election officials seeking information about rejected absentee ballots
- New York Daily News (via Yahoo News): Trump calls for vote switcheroo to defeat Peltola in Alaska Senate race
- Associated Press (via PBS NewsHour): Alaskans are waiting for more votes in Senate and governor’s races
- Alaska Public Media: 6 takeaways from Alaska’s election
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