One of the states where we’ve been waiting the longest for results is Alaska, and we got a big update there yesterday. In the U.S. Senate race, Republicans Kelly Tshibaka and Lisa Murkowski are now virtually tied with 43 percent of first-place votes each. Democrat Pat Chesbro has 10 percent, and Republican Buzz Kelley has 3 percent. In ranked-choice tabulations, most of Kelley’s votes are expected to go to Tshibaka, but most of Chesbro’s votes are expected to go to Murkowski, so Murkowski is in good shape here.
In the U.S. House race, Democrat Mary Peltola is at 48 percent of first-place votes, followed by Republicans Sarah Palin at 26 percent and Nick Begich at 24 percent. This looks like it’s going to play out similarly to the special election earlier this year, where Begich’s second-place votes gave Peltola the win. Peltola is even closer to that magic 50 percent threshold here than in the special election.
Finally, for governor, Republican Mike Dunleavy is still pulling a majority of first-place votes (51 percent), which would allow him to win reelection without ranked-choice tabulation if it holds.
Alaska will report another big batch of votes this Friday, then will conduct the ranked-choice tabulations as necessary on Wednesday, Nov. 23, at which point we will finally know the winners in these races.