Democratic candidate Mary Peltola strengthened her advantage over Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s closely watched Senate contest on Saturday. Meanwhile, Republican Representative Lauren Boebert, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, lost her congressional seat in Colorado as election officials continued counting ballots almost two weeks after the US midterm elections.
According to The Associated Press, Peltola’s lead over Sullivan increased to 10,412 votes, compared with 5,800 votes recorded the previous day.
With nearly 96% of ballots counted, the former congresswoman had received 138,240 votes, representing 49.84% of the total. Sullivan had secured 127,828 votes, equivalent to 46.09%.
Another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., who has the same name as the Republican incumbent, received 4,560 votes. Consequently, the combined votes for both candidates named Sullivan reached 132,388, remaining 5,852 below Peltola’s total.
President Trump has alleged electoral misconduct by Democrats, accusing them of deliberately encouraging Sullivan Jr. to enter the contest to confuse voters and weaken the Republican senator’s chances.
The latest ballot update added approximately 22,500 votes to the count, further improving Peltola’s position in the final undecided Senate contest from the November 3 midterm elections.
However, the Associated Press has not officially declared a winner because Peltola has yet to cross the 50% threshold required for an outright victory under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting arrangement.
If no candidate secures an absolute majority of first-preference votes, election officials will conduct another round of counting on November 18. During this process, votes belonging to eliminated candidates will be redistributed according to voters’ alternative preferences.
A Peltola victory would increase the Democratic Party’s representation to 56 seats in the 100-member Senate, consolidating its newly established majority. She would also make history as the first Indigenous Alaskan elected to the US Senate.
Sullivan, a two-term Republican senator and Trump supporter, is seeking another term. Trump personally visited Alaska last month to support his re-election campaign.
Meanwhile, Alaskan voters rejected a proposal to abolish the state’s open-primary and ranked-choice voting arrangements. This marked the second rejection of a similar initiative within two years.
Trump Ally Loses House Seat In Colorado
In another setback for Republicans, Democrat Eileen Laubacher defeated three-term Republican Representative Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, according to the Associated Press on Friday.
Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral, received 48.8% of the votes, narrowly surpassing Boebert, who secured 47.9%. Approximately 99% of ballots had been counted when the outcome was announced.
The result represents a notable political shift in a traditionally conservative constituency that Trump won by more than 18 percentage points during the 2024 presidential election.
Boebert, a vocal supporter of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, accepted the outcome in a video shared on social media. She also confirmed that she had contacted Laubacher to congratulate her on the victory.
Acknowledging the broader Republican setbacks, Boebert remarked that the party had collectively failed to secure the expected electoral results.
Democrats also achieved another victory in Alaska, where former state legislator Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins was projected to win the gubernatorial election against three Republican opponents.
Kreiss-Tomkins received approximately 50.8% of the vote, potentially securing an outright victory without requiring another round of ranked-choice counting, provided the final results maintain his majority.
These developments follow substantial Democratic gains in the November 3 midterm elections, which enabled the party to take control of both chambers of Congress.
Nevertheless, several competitive House races remain undecided as election authorities continue processing and counting the remaining ballots.
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