A closely watched Alaska Senate contest edged tighter Wednesday as new ballot drops chipped away at Mary Peltola’s advantage over Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.
The latest unofficial results from the Alaska Division of Elections put Peltola’s lead at 3,975 votes, a reduction from the 4,250-vote margin recorded just one day earlier on Tuesday.
The shrinkage was driven largely by returns from the Mat-Su region, a conservative-leaning area of the state that has generally favored Republican candidates in recent cycles.
Despite the narrowing gap, Peltola’s campaign moved quickly to frame the updated numbers as a sign of strength rather than vulnerability for the Democratic challenger.
Campaign manager Cheryl Bruce argued that Sullivan’s remaining arithmetic has become unworkable, pointing to Peltola’s performance in areas that would typically bolster the incumbent’s totals.
“As Mary continues to overperform in traditionally conservative areas around the state, today’s ballot drop is yet another proof point that Sullivan’s path to victory is non-existent,” Bruce said. “Voters are choosing Alaska first over party.”
Bruce also pointed to a large reservoir of uncounted ballots that the campaign believes will shift the final tally decisively in Peltola’s favor before all counting concludes.
“As we’ve said, tens of thousands of outstanding early votes and absentee ballots from Anchorage and rural Alaska remain uncounted and will break for Mary, sending her to the United States Senate,” Bruce added.
The race has drawn additional controversy beyond the vote tallies, with allegations surfacing that Peltola’s campaign recruited another candidate sharing Sullivan’s surname specifically to siphon votes from the incumbent.
That Senate candidate has denied the spoiler claim, though the allegation has added a layer of political friction to an already contentious contest in one of the country’s most geographically expansive states.
Anchorage and rural Alaska ballots are expected to represent a substantial share of the remaining count, and both campaigns are watching those precincts closely as the final results take shape.
The outcome will determine whether Sullivan, a Republican incumbent, retains his seat or is unseated by Peltola in a result that would reshape Alaska’s representation in the upper chamber.
