Alaska Senate race remains too close to call

Fox - 10 Phoenix
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Nov 5, 2026
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Video Summary
AI GeneratedThe Alaska Senate race remains too close to call, with Democratic candidate Mary Peltola and incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan separated by only a few hundred votes. Because neither has reached a 50% majority, the outcome may be decided by ranked-choice voting, while a controversy involving a \"decoy\" candidate with the same name as the incumbent triggers official investigations.
The race right now for the Senate seat in Alaska still too close
to call and it could all come down now to people's second choices.
That's an interesting part of this.
Also a ballot controversy involving two candidates named Dan Sullivan.
That's also looming over this race.
Fox's Sarah Legre is live in Anchorage for us tonight.
Sarah, the question we just want to know,
when are we going to find out who won this thing?
Well, hi there, Stephen Ellen.
I mean, it's a few days after the election and here
in Alaska, still no results quite yet.
And it could be a matter of weeks until we finally get
that. We have Democratic candidate Mary Peltola.
She's leading the race, but not too far behind
her. Republican Senator, the incumbent, Dan S. Sullivan.
I mean, the two are neck and neck,
only separated by a few hundred votes at this point.
But with neither candidate topping 50%
of the vote right now, as you mentioned,
it could come down to voters' second choices here.
Because Alaskans can rank four candidates
in order of preference with ranked choice
voting.
Now if no one gets more than half the vote,
the candidate in last place then eliminated,
those votes though then go to the next choice listed on each ballot
and that process continues
on until someone gets a majority.
The system itself is also on the ballot
this year with Alaskans divided over whether or
not to keep it.
Don't be fooled. I mean, it's a ridiculous voting system,
and hopefully we're going to prevail this year,
and basically we won't have to do this again.
It's definitely something that I find a lot of value in,
because you can choose not just one candidate,
you can choose multiple candidates,
so you're not stuck with one specific candidate.
Now, ranked choice puts new attention on two other names
in this race that Republicans argue are
pulling thousands of votes away from the incumbent.
We've got Republican Gerald Hikes. He has nearly
5,000 votes. And then there's Dan J. Sullivan,
the so-called decoy candidate. He's got more than
3,000. And he shares a name with the incumbent senator.
And days before the election, that
explosive New York Times report raised questions about whether
or not Democratic aides from
Peltola's campaign helped recruit him
to siphon votes away from the senator. Now the FBI is
He's investigating issuing dozens of subpoenas.
Here's the governor of Alaska. They have a
state investigation as well. There's no real dispute that he was put
on the ballot for the very purpose we're talking about.
And the question really is what will
the investigations uncover?
Will there be any conspiracy? Will there be a perjury?
Now in the meantime, Alaska is still accepting those mail-in ballots
and then ranked choice counting right now is scheduled for November 18th.
Now the certification
of those results won't happen until likely November 25th.
That's the day before Thanksgiving.
In Anchorage, Alaska, Sarah Legre, Fox 10 News.
Thank you, Sarah, for that live report out there in Anchorage.
