JUNEAU, Alaska — Democrats Mary Peltola and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins pulled further ahead Thursday after the Alaska Division of Elections added another batch of roughly 5,000 ballots to its count, pushing the statewide total past 256,000.
In the U.S. Senate race, Peltola, a former congresswoman, now holds 49.1% of first-choice votes to 46.8% for Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. Her margin stands at 5,800 votes, up about 1,825 from Wednesday. That gap is now larger than the total for Dan J. Sullivan, a retired Petersburg teacher on the same ballot, whose candidacy has been the focus of a federal lawsuit over possible voter confusion. Republican Gerald Heikes has 2.1% and Dan J. Sullivan has 1.6%.
Because no Senate candidate is above 50%, the race would go to a ranked-choice tabulation. Preliminary data suggests Peltola would stay ahead after second choices are counted.
For governor, Kreiss-Tomkins edged just past 50% of first-choice votes, enough to win the four-way contest outright without ranked choices if he holds that share. Republicans Bernadette Wilson has 28.7%, Dave Bronson 13.7% and Treg Taylor 7.3%. A win would make him the first Democrat elected governor of Alaska since 2002.
Many of the newly counted ballots came from Juneau and the rest of Southeast Alaska, a region that favored both Democrats. Overseas ballots have until Nov. 18 to arrive, and the final count is set for that day.
Republican Rep. Nick Begich leads the race for the state lone House seat with 48.5% to 41.1% for independent Bill Hill. A ballot measure to repeal the ranked-choice election system is failing, with about 53% voting no.
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