Democrat Mary Peltola significantly increased her lead in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, while remaining on track to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
The Alaska Division of Elections counted more than 20,000 ballots Friday, bringing the total number of ballots counted to more than 279,000.
Peltola had counted 49.8% of first-choice votes as of Friday. Sullivan, the incumbent, held 46.1%.
“Alaskans have spoken and it is clear that in the coming days, Mary Peltola will be officially elected as the next United States senator,” Cheryl Bruce, Peltola’s campaign manager, said in a prepared statement.
The Division of Elections is expected to continue counting ballots until Wednesday, the last day to accept absentee ballots sent from overseas. Thousands of votes remain to be counted.
Absentee voters have so far tended to favor Peltola over Sullivan, contributing to a growing lead as ballots are counted.
The U.S. Senate race in Alaska is expected to be the last to be called in the country. If Peltola is elected, Alaska will join several states in which Democrats have won seats previously held by Republicans, amid widespread dissatisfaction with Republican Party policies.
Peltola could ultimately win by crossing the 50% threshold in first-choice votes, thus avoiding a ranked-choice ranking.
If it remains below that threshold, the winner will be determined by tabulation, taking into account the second-choice votes of two other candidates who participated in Alaska’s U.S. Senate runoff: Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from Petersburg, who has 1.6 percent of the first-choice votes, and perennial Republican candidate Gerald Heikes, who has 2.1 percent.
Preliminary data on the second-choice preferences of down-ballot candidates indicates that Peltola is likely to win, even if the race is determined by tabulation.
In the days leading up to the election, President Donald Trump claimed that widespread confusion over candidates with the same name could cost Republicans the seat. Ultimately, however, the St. Petersburg Sullivan received relatively few votes, and his voters tended to favor Peltola over the incumbent in their rankings.
Meanwhile, in Alaska’s lone U.S. House of Representatives race, Republican incumbent Nick Begich leads with 47.8 percent of the primary vote. Independent challenger Bill Hill narrowed the gap, with 41.7% of first-choice votes counted Friday.
Democratic candidate Eric Hafner, a felon in a New York prison who has never been to Alaska, received 7.7 percent. Libertarian Jim McDermott had 2.6%.
Polling data indicates Begich is on track to defeat Hill in a ranked choice.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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