Election 2026: Alaska US Senate race too close to call

In a race that was a tale of two Dan Sullivans, it is still too close to call in the race for the U.S. Senate in Alaska.

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As of Wednesday morning, Republican incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan led Democratic challenger former Rep. Mary Peltola by 1,677 votes, or less than a percentage point, The New York Times reported.

Sullivan had 48.5% of the vote while Peltola had 47.7%.

Third place was Republican Gerald Heikes with 4,495 or 2.2% of the vote.

Dan Sullivan was in fourth with 3,448 votes, or 1.7% of the vote.

The GOP said the second Dan Sullivan, a retired school teacher who ran on the Republican ticket in the primary, alleged that the Democrats planted him as a spoiler and to sow confusion with the incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, The Washington Post reported.

Peltola denied any involvement.

President Donald Trump had called for the Department of Justice to block the certification if Dan S. Sullivan loses and launch an investigation into potential voter confusion, The Associated Press reported. The lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge but the DOJ appealed.

The newspaper said it may be days before the race is called. One reason: the remote areas of Alaska and its ranked-choice voting system.

A ranked-choice election means that voters rank their preferences. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round, the lower choices factor in, the Post said.

The state also allows ballots from overseas to be counted up to 15 days after Election Day as long as they were postmarked by Election Day, the AP said.