Mary Peltola extends lead over Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska Senate race
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Preliminary results show Democrat Mary Peltola ahead of Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan by about 2,500 first-choice votes, with the final outcome to be decided after ranked-choice tabulation.
Democrat Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative, widened her margin over Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in Alaska’s Senate race after the Alaska Division of Elections released an updated tally on Monday. The count, which now includes more than 220,000 ballots, shows Peltola with 106,321 first-choice votes (48.6%) and Sullivan with 103,804 votes (47.5%), giving her a lead of 2,517 votes, or about 1.1% of the total.
Election officials expect additional batches of early and absentee ballots to be processed through Nov. 18, with certification slated for Nov. 25. Because no candidate has yet surpassed the 50% threshold, the race will likely be decided through Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which reallocates votes from eliminated candidates until one reaches a majority.
Third-place candidate Gerald Heikes, a Republican perennial, has 4,865 first-choice votes (2.2%), while a namesake challenger, Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher, holds 3,651 votes (1.7%). Their supporters’ second-choice selections could prove decisive in the final tabulation.
Both campaigns have issued statements outlining their strategies. Peltola’s campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said the latest results reflect strong support in Anchorage and Chevak and expressed confidence in the candidate’s path to victory. The Sullivan campaign also emphasized its focus on winning remaining ballots.
The Peltola campaign has filed a lawsuit in Anchorage Superior Court seeking data on rejected absentee ballots, adding a legal dimension to the contest as the state continues counting votes.