Republican Senator Dan Sullivan held a narrow lead over Democrat Mary Peltola in Alaska's Senate race on Thursday. He remained below the 50% threshold, so the contest will go to a ranked-choice tabulation later this month. The Alaska Division of Elections said absentee and early ballots were still being counted across the state.

Alaska voters kept the state's ranked-choice general election system in 2024, when a repeal measure failed by a narrow margin. Under the system, the last-placed candidates are eliminated in rounds and their votes are redistributed until one candidate wins a majority. The Division of Elections said it would not run the tabulation until all eligible ballots postmarked by Election Day had arrived, a window that closes 10 days after the vote.

The race was marked by a dispute in its final days. The Washington Examiner reported that a political action committee was accused of sending a voter guide that left out Sullivan and promoted a minor candidate. Republicans in the state called the mailer an effort to split conservative votes. The second preferences of that candidate's supporters could now help decide the outcome.

The delay means one of the most closely watched Senate seats of the midterm cycle will stay unresolved for about two weeks. Peltola, who won Alaska's at-large House seat in a 2022 special election before losing it in 2024, told supporters in Anchorage that she expected later-counted ballots to narrow the gap. Sullivan's campaign said it was confident his first-round lead would hold once votes were redistributed.

Historically, late-arriving absentee ballots in Alaska have favoured Democratic candidates. Election administrators have also noted that a large share of rural ballots are counted after election night. Both parties' national Senate campaign committees were expected to send lawyers to Juneau to observe the count before the ranked-choice results are released.