Peltola Leads Sullivan in Alaska Senate Race
The Facts
- Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan by 626 votes in Alaska's Senate race as of Wednesday afternoon, with 102,701 votes to 102,075, according to Associated Press figures reflecting about 74% of ballots counted.
- Neither Peltola nor Sullivan had topped 50% of first-choice votes, sending the contest toward a ranked-choice tabulation set for Nov. 18, in which trailing candidates are eliminated and their ballots shift to voters' next available choices.
- Two other candidates were on the ballot: Republican Gerald Heikes, with 4,821 votes (2.3%) and unaffiliated Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher, with 3,583 (1.7%). In the August primary, Sullivan Jr. took 2.5% and Heikes 1.1%.
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The Spin
Republican narrative
Hunting through voter rolls for a namesake to plant on the ballot is illegal sabotage, not clever politics. A candidate who never campaigns, never spends and gets filing fees covered by a dark money outfit exists for one reason: to siphon votes through confusion. Races decided by a few hundred ballots deserve better than a manufactured decoy, and the scheme behind it deserves a full investigation.
Democratic narrative
Turning an obscure candidate into a grand conspiracy was always a convenient excuse for a race that got too close. The ballot spelled out who was who, ranked-choice voting sends any mistaken first pick right back to the incumbent, and barely a sliver of voters chose the namesake. Dragging in federal lawyers to block certification before every ballot is counted is the actual threat to elections.
