November 14, 2026
The race for Alaska’s 2026 United States Senate seat remains too close to call after a new update to the latest ballots was released late on Friday, November 13.
Democrat and former Representative Mary Peltola has now extended her lead over Republican incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan to 10,412 votes. However, Peltola still falls slightly short of reaching 50%, after Saturday, November 14.
According to The Associated Press, who have received 96.16% of the votes, Peltola now has 138,240 (49.84%), while Sullivan has only 127,828 (46.09%). Republican Gerald L. Heikes trails with 5,885 votes (2.12%) and Independent Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has 4,560 votes (1.64%).
Ranked Choice Voting
If no candidate receives over 50% of first preference votes after all votes have been received, a ranked choice instant run-off vote will be held under Alaska election law.
The ranked choice count will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2026 by the Alaska Division of Elections. This coincides with the 15 day deadline for overseas absentee ballots.
According to an analysis by The New York Times on November 14, Peltola will “ultimately win”. They found that based on the cast vote records and models, Independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.’s voters have overwhelmingly voted for Peltola as their second preference.
Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) also changed their analysis to show Peltola has a lead of nearly 4%. Peltola picked up around 2,000 votes.
Peltola campaign reactions
The Peltola campaign released an optimistic statement late on Friday claiming Peltola will be formally elected in the coming days. They claimed there is “no mathematically viable way” for Sullivan to win. The Sullivan campaign has not conceded.
The race has been marred by legal action. A lower federal court recently dismissed a case brought by the Justice Department, prompted by the Trump administration, to prevent the race from being certified due to a dispute over Independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.’s ballot access. The administration are appealing the dismissal, however experts believe it is a weak chance of changing the outcome.
All eyes are now on Alaska as they await the overseas ballots and ranked choice run off on November 18. The Last Frontier will soon formally draw a line under the 2026 midterm elections.
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