Trump Demands Vote Transfer in Tight Alaska Senate Race
President Donald Trump called for votes from a similarly named candidate to be transferred to Senator Dan Sullivan as Mary Peltola leads the contested race.
Democratic challenger Mary Peltola currently leads Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan by 626 first-choice votes in a tight U.S. Senate race in Alaska. Neither candidate has reached the 50% threshold, meaning the result will likely be determined through ranked choice voting. While Peltola holds the initial lead, an analysis by the Alaska Beacon suggests Sullivan would gain more redistributed votes than Peltola once lower-tier candidates are eliminated.
The election is mired in controversy over the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a third-party candidate who won 2.5% of the primary vote. Senator Sullivan has labeled the presence of the similarly named opponent as the biggest election cheating scandal in state history, alleging the Peltola campaign recruited the man to confuse voters. Peltola has denied these claims, though the United States Department of Justice has confirmed a criminal investigation into the matter.
President Donald Trump has intervened, demanding that vote totals for the "Fake Dan Sullivan" be transferred directly to the incumbent to end the election. The Department of Justice previously filed a lawsuit to block the certification of results, which a federal judge dismissed; the department is now appealing that decision. Approximately 60,000 early and absentee ballots, along with results from 131 rural precincts, remain uncounted.
