The first batch of unofficial results showed liberals in the lead, but updated results released at 2:42 AM show most races remain competitive. Senator Dan Sullivan is closing in on Democrat challenger Mary Peltola, needing fewer than 700 votes to take the lead. The governor’s race shows Republicans combined with a higher percentage of votes than Democrat candidate Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins; however, this lead depends on voters having ranked their ballots. The margin on ballot measure 2 has also tightened since the first batch of results.
While margins for most races are tightening, Congressman Nick Begich has pulled significantly ahead of independent challenger Bill Hill with 49.6% of the counted first choice votes compared to Hill’s 40.4%.
394 of 403 precincts have reported and unofficial results at this time are first-choice totals only. Ranked-choice tabulations will not run until November 18, after the Division reviews and counts remaining mail, absentee, questioned, and other eligible ballots. Approximately 100,000 ballots or more have yet to be counted. Absentee ballots can arrive as many as 15 days after polls close and still be counted as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. First-choice percentages frequently move as results update, and the final ranked-choice rounds can further change outcomes when no candidate clears 50 percent in the first round.
U.S. Senate
The race for U.S. Senate could go either way with Democrat Mary Peltola now only 626 first choice votes ahead of Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan. Gerald Hiekes took about 2.3% of the first-choice votes currently counted and Daniel J. Sullivan from Petersburg took about 1.7% of the votes.
U.S. Representative
Republican Nick Begich shows a strong lead for U.S. House with 49.6% of first choice votes that have been counted, followed by independent Bill Hill with only 40.4%. Democrat Eric Hafner, who is incarcerated in a New York prison, is at 7.3% and Libertarian James “Jim” McDermott is at 2.7%.
Governor
For Alaska’s governor race, as of the latest update, current results show Republicans combined with 107,179 votes and Democrat Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins with 103,610 (49.2%). The leading Republican, Bernadette Wilson, took 29.2% of the votes, over double the first choice votes for Dave Bronson and about four times the votes for Treg Taylor. There are over 45,000 ballots at risk of being exhausted if Bronson and Taylor voters did not rank.
Ballot Measures
Current results show Ballot Measure 2 (24ESEG)— the initiative to repeal the top-four open primary, ranked-choice voting, and certain 2020 campaign finance provisions— still trailing with 51.9% “no” votes. However, this can very easily shift. In 2024, on Election Day, it seemed ballot measure 2 would pass, but after all votes were counted, the results flipped in favor of the “no” side.
Ballot measure 3 supporting citizen-only voting passed with approximately 70% of the votes.
The Division will continue updating first-choice totals as more precincts and ballots are processed. Ranked-choice tabulations is scheduled for November 18. All figures are unofficial until certified.
