Apparently voting for someone else still counts as voting Republican.
Donald Trump declares victory in an election that hasn’t yet been decided — and uses his own version of electoral math to get there.
In a remarkably bold Truth Social article Saturday afternoon, the president, 80, insisted that Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is “substantially ahead” in Alaska’s razor-tight Senate race, even though Democrat Mary Peltola leads in the vote count.
Trump’s reasoning? Votes cast for two other candidates should simply be added to Sullivan’s total.
“Daniel Sullivan is well ahead in the Alaska Senate race. When you add Daniel (3,600, 1.68%) to Dan and Gerald Heikes (4,846, 2.27%), Sen. Dan Sullivan is up several thousand votes,” Trump began.
Peltola leads with 48.17 percent of the vote, while Sullivan (favored by Trump) trails by less than 700 votes, with 47.88 percent.
Donald Trump’s Social Truth Post on the Alaska Senate Election.
Social truth/Donald Trump
So far, only 75 percent of ballots have been counted. Under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, the lowest-ranked candidates are eliminated and their votes are redistributed based on upcoming voter preferences.
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Trump’s calculations ignore this crucial distinction. Votes are not automatically transferred to the candidate the president believes should receive them, and some may not be transferred at all to either major party candidate.
The race may not be decided until Nov. 18, when Alaska is expected to begin counting ranked-choice votes.
It’s not soon enough for Trump, who has focused on allegations of “voter fraud” in Alaska ahead of Election Day.
Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola participate in a debate in Anchorage, Alaska.
Another Dan Sullivan ran in the primary and general elections, and his candidacy appears to have played a spoiler role. His candidacy faced repeated legal challenges, but courts and election officials always ruled he could remain on the ballot.
Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is currently in fourth place with just 1.68% of the vote, far behind Dan S. Sullivan, identified on the ballot as the Republican incumbent.
Trump’s message comes just 24 hours after the president announced the nomination of Stephen Miller as White House chief of staff. And Miller has previously spoken out on the Alaska race, describing it as “one of the most egregious attacks we’ve seen on the integrity of American elections.”
Miller, who was questioned by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack about his role in encouraging the “Stop the Steal” movement, wrote part of Trump’s speech at the Ellipse before rioters stormed the Capitol.
Miller also argued on
Stephen Miller’s article on Alaska on X.
Four days after Miller’s post, The New York Times reported allegations that Peltola’s campaign may have coordinated with Daniel J. Sullivan to get him on the ballot.
Peltola’s campaign has denied the allegation.
Trump’s message on Saturday also claimed that independent candidate Heikes had been fraudulent, without providing evidence, and declared the race “OVER.”
President Donald Trump announced he was promoting Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff in a Truth Social article Friday afternoon.
“I don’t know why it’s taking so long to announce his victory. It should be immediate! Anyone who votes for Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., a man who tried to change his initial, but failed to do so in time, and who was otherwise apolitical – never even voted – is a vote for Senator Dan Sullivan. The Alaska race is OVER. Dan Sullivan won, BY A LOT!
It wasn’t the first such request from Trump this week, as he licks his wounds after Democrats’ decisive midterm victories.
On Thursday, he threw a similar tantrum on Truth Social, claiming that reallocating the independent candidate’s votes to Sen. Sullivan was the only solution.
“There is no other fair solution! » he opined.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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