Alaska’s U.S. Senate race tightened slightly Wednesday as election officials released a fresh batch of ballots, narrowing Democratic challenger Mary Peltola’s lead over Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, Alaska Public Media reported.
Peltola holds 48.7% of the vote to Sullivan’s 47.1%. Her lead shrank from 4,250 votes Tuesday down to 3,975 on Wednesday, falling beneath a key threshold that has already drawn federal litigation from the Trump administration.
That margin matters because Peltola’s lead is now less than the 4,100 votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. of Petersburg. In October, the Trump administration sued to pre-emptively block any election results impacted by voter confusion, arguing that threshold would be met if the incumbent senator lost to Peltola by fewer votes than went to the other candidate sharing his name.
A District Court judge dismissed the case, but the Trump administration is appealing that decision. Meanwhile, the Associated Press estimates that 14% of ballots remain uncounted across the state.
“As we’ve said, tens of thousands of outstanding early votes and absentee ballots from Anchorage and rural Alaska remain uncounted and will break for Mary, sending her to the United States Senate,” Cheryl Bruce, Peltola’s campaign manager, said in an emailed statement.
Sullivan’s campaign also pointed to the uncounted ballots still making their way through the processing pipeline. Nate Adams, a spokesman for the incumbent senator, thanked election workers for their ongoing efforts.
“There’s a long way to go before every Alaskan’s voice is heard,” Adams said in a statement. “We thank the Division of Elections for their hard work and look forward to a complete and accurate count.”
In the gubernatorial race, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins saw his lead narrow against Republican business owner Bernadette Wilson. Kreiss-Tomkins sits at 49.6% of the vote compared to Wilson’s 28.9%, after the state added 5,612 early, absentee, and Election Day ballots to the ledger.
State data shows roughly 5,000 of those newly processed votes were absentee ballots originating from state House districts inside the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, a reliable Republican stronghold. Kreiss-Tomkins told reporters he anticipates finishing with between 51% and 52% of the vote once the tally concludes.
Speaking at a Resource Development Council conference in Anchorage, Kreiss-Tomkins said he has already started planning a gubernatorial transition. He intends to name an ideologically diverse group of transition co-chairs once the outcome gains public certainty.
“I’ve had the fortune over the last week to start to think about what executive branch governance looks like and how we will want to build an administration if, in fact, once the votes are counted, the outcome is confirmed,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
Wilson sharply criticized Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system during an interview on Right Side Broadcasting, calling the process an absolute mess. She said that while voters cast a majority for one of three Republicans in the governor’s contest, a Democrat could ultimately secure the office.
“But regardless of outcome, I can assure you, I’m not going anywhere,” Wilson said.
Other statewide contests show different trajectories. Republican Congressman Nick Begich maintains a substantial lead in the U.S. House race. At the same time, Ballot Measure 2, which seeks to repeal Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, continues to fail with the “No” side leading at 52.5%.
The Division of Elections scheduled its next update for Friday, which serves as the deadline for most mailed ballots to arrive. Ballots sent from overseas have until Nov. 18 to reach election officials, marking the final day of counting and the date for ranked-choice tabulation in races where no candidate clears the 50% threshold.
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