Alaska's ballot count continues with Senate, governor races too early to call

Justice Department appeal keeps alive challenge to Senate certification if Sullivan loses

Alaskans settled in Wednesday to await more results from the general election ballot, including a bitterly fought U.S. Senate campaign between two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola and an open seat for governor. A ballot measure seeking to repeal Alaska’s unique system of open primaries and ranked-vote general elections also remained too early to call.

Under Alaska’s system, rankings come into play if no candidate wins more than 50% of first-choice votes. The state allows up to 10 days to receive absentee ballots sent from within the United States and accepts ballots from overseas voters for up to 15 days after the election — a timeline that can be critical for ballots from rural Alaska communities, which are often accessible only by air or water and rely on air service for mail delivery. State election officials have targeted Nov. 18 to tabulate the results under the ranked-vote system.

Both Senate campaigns urged patience as the ballot count continued. Peltola addressed supporters Tuesday night after news broke that Democrats had won enough seats to gain control of the Senate. She was joyful — even taking a selfie with the crowd — but said it will take time for the state to count ballots.

“It’s going to take a long time to make sure we’re counting every vote from every far-flung hinterland community, from every tiny outpost, from all of our service members serving overseas, our young people going to colleges,” Peltola said.

The Senate contest dominated headlines ahead of Tuesday’s election and attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice. With less than two weeks before Election Day, the department sued at President Donald Trump’s direction seeking to block certification of the race if Sullivan loses, citing potential confusion with another Sullivan on the ballot, retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, but the department has appealed.

Suspicions long held by the senator and his supporters that the lesser-known Sullivan was running to sow confusion gained new life last week, when The New York Times reported that top political aides to Peltola appeared to be involved in recruiting him. The report was based on interviews with a former Peltola campaign manager who was fired shortly before the August primary, and it cited text messages and campaign finance documents indicating that an operative trying to recruit candidates was paid by a group backing Peltola. Federal authorities have confirmed the existence of a criminal investigation in the matter.

Peltola denied any involvement. Dan J. Sullivan, who has denied running at the behest of Democrats, had not responded to messages seeking comment in the last week. The senator elevated the issue in his closing argument to voters and questioned Peltola’s denials. On Wednesday, his campaign expressed confidence in Sullivan’s chances “despite the biggest election cheating scandal in the history of Alaska” and “despite a bloodbath for Republicans everywhere else in the country.”

In the governor’s race, former state lawmaker Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins is trying to become the first Democrat elected to the office in a generation. He faces three Republicans: business owner Bernadette Wilson, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump; former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson; and former state Attorney General Treg Taylor. Kreiss-Tomkins is seeking to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy and has cast himself as a consensus builder, saying he would work across party lines to address the state’s challenges.

Kreiss-Tomkins expressed excitement about the early vote results while speaking to supporters on election night, saying, “What a night this is for the future of our state.”

State Republican leaders urged their voters to rank the three Republican candidates in the governor’s race to maximize the party’s chances of success. But Trump, speaking at a rally in support of Republican candidates including Sullivan and Wilson last month in Wasilla, called ranked voting a “scam,” and he railed on social media against Bronson and Taylor. Wilson said in a statement Wednesday that she was “cautiously optimistic for the days ahead.”

Alaska’s last Democratic governor was Tony Knowles, who had back-to-back terms from 1994 to 2002. The state had an independent governor from 2014 to 2018.

Alaskans were asked to decide for the second time in two years on the ballot measure seeking to repeal the open-primary and ranked-vote general election system. Voters approved the system in 2020, and it took effect for elections in 2022. Voters narrowly rejected a repeal effort two years ago, and the latest result remained too early to call.