Peltola surpasses combined Dan Sullivan votes after latest drop

This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. Former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) on Tuesday surpassed the combined vote total of Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and independent Dan J. Sullivan following the latest ballot drop in the to-be-determined Senate race. Peltola expanded her narrow lead over the incumbent, with 49 percent of the vote to the incumbent’s 47.2 percent, as of 11:13 p.m. EST on Tuesday; 84 percent, or 245,470, of the ballots have been counted so far, according to unofficial results from Alaska’s Division of Elections. Dan J. Sullivan received 4,027 votes, or 1.7 percent. The Alaska Democrat’s lead hit 118,926 to the Sullivans’ unofficial ballot total of 118,703, the records show. VoteHub’s head of data science, Zachary Donnini, wrote in response to the results on the social platform X that Peltola “now has more votes than both Sullivans combined and a solid chance of reaching 50 percent to avoid [ranked choice voting], and will if the final drops are as blue as they were in the primary.” The state, under ranked-choice voting, will hold an instant runoff election if neither candidate collects 50 percent of the first-choice votes. The process repeats until a candidate notches the majority. Peltola’s campaign celebrated the updated results, with campaign manager Cheryl Bruce stating Sen. Sullivan has no “viable path to reelection.” “We remain exceptionally confident that Mary will be elected when every vote is counted, and Mary is eager to take her fight to the United States Senate,” Bruce said in a statement. President Trump –– who has questioned the validity of the race ahead of the election and accused Peltola’s campaign of spoiling the vote with Dan J. Sullivan’s inclusion, a claim that she and other Democrats have denied –– posted a graphic on Truth Social of the two Sullivans with their combined vote compared with the Democratic front-runner. Trump’s graphic has the Sullivans’ vote written in a green font with a check mark, while Peltola’s lead is shown in red with an “X” next to her ballot count. The third-place candidate’s presence on the November ballot angered the Department of Justice (DOJ), which sued to block the certification of the election if the senator lost. The DOJ argued that the spoiler candidate’s name appearing on the ballots could leave Alaskan voters confused. A federal judge dismissed the case. The race in Alaska, which outlets like the Alaskan Beacon considered a likely win for the Republican incumbent, remains one of the country’s last two Senate races that have yet to be called, with the other being the close race in Mississippi. Senate candidate Scott Colom (D) extended his slim lead by more than 3,000 votes over Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.). Decision Desk HQ, The Hill’s election partner, found Colom leading with 49.11 percent of the vote counted so far to Hyde-Smith’s 48.79 percent — or 470,266 votes to 467,183, respectively — as of 10:31 p.m. EST. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.