Alaska’s U.S. House race is tight between Begich and Hill with many votes left to count

This article is developing and will be updated.

Alaska’s lone U.S. House race had no clear leader late Tuesday as the Alaska Division of Elections published preliminary results. 

With 45 of 401 precincts reporting results Tuesday night, independent challenger Bill Hill had 47.3% of Alaskans’ first-choice votes, while Republican incumbent Rep. Nick Begich III had 44.1%. 

Federally imprisoned Democratic candidate Eric Hafner had 6.6% of the vote, and Libertarian Jim McDermott had 1.9%.

With Hafner acting as a potential spoiler, Hill had trailed in pre-Election Day polling despite having the endorsement and backing of the Alaska Democratic Party. 

But on Election Day, national results favored Democratic candidates across the country, and Hill appeared to benefit from the “blue tsunami” washing over the United States.