Democrat Mary Peltola has declared victory in Alaska’s unresolved Senate contest.
Peltola, 53, a former House member, now leads Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan by nearly four percentage points — 49.8% to 46% — after a fresh ballot drop on Saturday pushed her advantage to 10,412 votes with 96% of ballots counted, according to her campaign.
“Alaskans have spoken,” her team posted in a statement on X. “There is no mathematical path for Sullivan to win this race. When the remaining votes are counted, Mary will decisively be elected as Alaska’s next United States Senator.”
Peltola remains just below the 50% threshold that would clinch the race outright and spare her a ranked-choice runoff. Third-party candidates Gerald Heikes and Dan R. Sullivan Jr. Hold the remaining share of the vote. The latter candidate drew attention after President Trump labeled him “fake” amid reports that operatives close to Peltola had encouraged his candidacy to peel away votes from the Republican incumbent.
Trump has insisted the race belongs to Sullivan regardless of the vote totals. Last week he declared the contest “over” and asserted that Sullivan had “won” it. The Trump Justice Department also filed suit before Election Day seeking to block “any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion.”
“You will not be surprised to learn that there are reports that more Fake Dan Sullivan voters listed Peltola as their second choice than listed Real Dan Sullivan. If that is the case, Peltola will likely win then,” wrote Byron York, a columnist for the Washington Examiner, on X.
If Peltola finishes below a majority once all first-choice votes are tallied, Alaska’s ranked-choice system would eliminate the lower-placed candidates and redistribute their ballots based on voters’ next preferences. The process has become a flashpoint in the state, where voters this month also backed a ballot measure to retain ranked-choice voting — the third time they have done so.
Sullivan has not posted publicly since Nov. 4, when he told his state on X: “Alaska, you might be seeing a blue wave in the Lower 48. We aren’t like the Lower 48. Alaska is different.”
A Peltola victory would expand the Democratic Senate majority to 56 seats, though still short of the 60 needed to overcome Republican filibusters.
The Senate race unfolded alongside another major Democratic gain in Alaska. Former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins defeated three Republicans — Trump-endorsed Bernadette Wilson, former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson, and Treg Taylor — to become Alaska’s first Democratic governor elected since 1998. Kreiss-Tomkins secured a cross-party endorsement from Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
Democrats now hold or are poised to hold 30 governorships following a string of midterm victories.