By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
WASHINGTON, Nov 4 (Reuters) – The outcome of the US Senate race in Alaska was unclear on Wednesday, one day after Democrats scored a sweeping victory in the US midterm elections that delivered them control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. With an unusual voting system and a legal challenge by the Trump administration, it could be weeks until a result is known.
Here’s what we know — and what we don’t — about the Last Frontier’s Senate race.
WHO ARE THE CANDIDATES AND WHAT ARE THE RESULTS SO FAR?
Incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan, first elected in 2014, is locked in a tight battle with Democratic challenger Mary Peltola, a centrist who served one term in the US House of Representatives from 2022 to 2025. Alaska is typically a reliably Republican state — President Donald Trump won it by 13 points in 2024 — but also displays an independent streak. The state’s other Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, won re-election as a write-in candidate in 2010 after she lost the Republican primary.
Two other candidates were also on the general-election ballot: retired schoolteacher Dan J. Sullivan, who has no party affiliation, and Republican Gerry Heikes, a drywall contractor.
With ballots still being counted, Peltola led Senator Sullivan by fewer than 700 votes, 48.2% to 47.9%, while retired teacher Sullivan has so far won about 3,600 votes, or 1.7%, according to tallies compiled by Reuters and USA Today, which are partnering this year to collect live election results. Heikes has so far won 2.3% of the vote, or fewer than 5,000 ballots.
WHY DON’T WE KNOW THE RESULTS YET?
Alaska runs a ranked-choice voting system, which means voters can rank candidates on their ballots in order of preference rather than selecting only one. The top four vote-getters in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party.
To win the general election, candidates need to receive more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate receives more than half of voters’ first-place votes, officials eliminate the last-place finisher and reallocate those ballots to voters’ next choices until one candidate has a majority.
Because it takes time for officials to count every ballot in the first round of voting, it could be weeks until a winner is declared. Officials will not run the ranked-choice tabulation until November 18.
THE DOUBLE DAN CONTROVERSY
Republicans had long alleged that Dan J. Sullivan was a spoiler candidate, meant to confuse voters who wanted to vote for the incumbent senator and did not know the difference between the two Sullivans.
Republicans tried to remove Sullivan the teacher from the ballot, alleging he was not a “good faith” candidate. But Alaska’s highest court rebuffed that argument.
The New York Times reported last week that Peltola’s campaign helped recruit Dan J. Sullivan into the race. Peltola’s campaign has denied any involvement.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal probe into the allegations, a probe it widened this week. Department officials have sent letters to more than 20 people notifying them they are subjects of the criminal probe, according to two people familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it.
Those are among the more than 140 letters, subpoenas and notices that have been sent in the probe, including to Democrats, campaigns, political action committees and phone companies, one of the people said.
Targets include prominent voting rights lawyer Marc Elias, whose firm has represented Democrats including Peltola, according to the people. Trump said on Tuesday Elias should be in jail. Elias has denied any wrongdoing.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
The Justice Department’s letters do not serve as evidence of guilt, and department officials have struggled to successfully bring convictions against many of Trump’s perceived enemies.
If Peltola does win, Republicans could also seek to appeal her victory and block her from being seated — but they will have less leverage with Democrats in control of the Senate from January.
The Justice Department has given no indication that it will ease up. On Tuesday, Attorney General Todd Blanche sought to cast doubt on the ranked-choice voting system and called for Alaska to preserve the ballots cast in the state.
“The Department of Justice has been fighting tooth and nail to stop this process,” Blanche said. “We’re not going to stop the fight even after today.”
(Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff; additional reporting by Jason Lange; editing by Andy Sullivan and Nia Williams)
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