Democrat Mary Peltola extended her lead over Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in the Alaska Senate race on Friday. With 49.8% of the vote, she remains ahead as counting continues. Nate Adams, a spokesman for Sullivan, said, "We're still waiting for every ballot to be counted. And we'll see what happens."
Mary Peltola has widened her lead over Dan Sullivan in Alaska's Senate race, with 49.8% of votes as counting continued ahead of ranked-choice tabulation
Democrat Mary Peltola increased her lead over Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan in the latest vote tally in Alaska's Senate race. However, the election remained uncalled on Friday as officials continued counting ballots. If neither candidate secures an outright majority, the contest will be decided next week through ranked-choice tabulation. As of Friday night, Peltola had received 49.8 percent of the vote, leading Sullivan by nearly four percentage points in the incomplete results. According to a New York Times analysis, she is on track to eventually win the race.
The contest between Sullivan, a two-term incumbent, and Peltola, a former congresswoman, is the only Senate race that remains uncalled in a midterm election cycle that featured sweeping Democratic victories. Nate Adams, a spokesman for Sullivan, said on Friday night following the latest release of results: "We're still waiting for every ballot to be counted. And we'll see what happens from there." The delay in Alaska's results is partly due to the time allowed for mail ballots to arrive and be counted, as well as the state's unique ranked-choice voting system. Sullivan and Peltola faced two additional candidates after advancing from a nonpartisan primary in August.
Under Alaska's ranked-choice voting system, voters can list candidates on their ballots in order of preference. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and the second-choice votes of their supporters are redistributed. The process continues until only two candidates remain, with the candidate receiving the most votes declared the winner.
In Alaska, Peltola and Sullivan faced Gerald L. Heikes, a Republican, and Dan J. Sullivan, an unaffiliated candidate whose name is similar to that of the Republican senator. Together, Heikes and Dan J. Sullivan have received approximately 4 percent of the votes counted so far. Democrats had recruited Heikes and Dan J. Sullivan to enter the race in an effort to reduce Senator Sullivan's vote share. The Times analysis found that among voters who selected Dan J. Sullivan as their first choice, more preferred Peltola as their second choice than Senator Sullivan.
Peltola, a centrist who campaigned under the slogan "fish, family and freedom," would become the first Alaska Native elected to the Senate. She would also be the first Democrat from Alaska elected to the Senate in nearly two decades.
Democrats, benefiting from widespread voter frustration over high prices during President Trump's second term, have won 55 Senate seats in the midterms. This gives them the largest majority held by either party since President Barack Obama's first term.
Trump's war in Iran and his tariff dispute with Canada negatively affected Alaska, where voters were dealing with particularly high gasoline prices. Sullivan chose to campaign alongside Trump despite the president's poor approval ratings, aiming to mobilize conservative Republican voters. Trump won Alaska by approximately 14 percentage points in 2024. However, the state has gradually moved toward the left in presidential elections over the past 25 years. If Peltola wins the Senate race, Democrats would hold 56 seats in the chamber, marking their strongest Senate performance in any election since Obama won the presidency in 2008.