President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that Alaska’s Senate race is “OVER” and Sen. Dan Sullivan “WON, BY A LOT,” even though no winner has been called and Democrat Mary Peltola still leads the latest tally; Peltola later said Alaska is still counting every ballot.
What Trump posted
In a Truth Social post Saturday afternoon, Trump argued that votes for two other candidates should be treated as votes for the Republican incumbent. “When you add Daniel (3,600, 1.68%) into Dan, and Gerald Heikes (4,846, 2.27%), Senator Dan Sullivan is up by thousands of Votes,” he wrote, according to an archive of the post and Mediaite’s report.
“The Alaska Race is OVER. Dan Sullivan WON, BY A LOT!” Trump wrote. He also claimed Heikes was “fraudulently put into the Race” and said a win for Sullivan “should be immediate.” The post went up about 2:55 p.m. ET Saturday.
Where the count actually stands
The race has not been called. According to USA Today, citing the Associated Press, former Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, led Sullivan by 637 votes — about 48.17% to 47.88% — with roughly three-quarters of ballots counted as of Saturday.
Alaska accepts absentee ballots that arrive through Nov. 18, the same day the state expects a ranked-choice tabulation if no one clears 50%, USA Today reported. Under ranked-choice voting, ballots for trailing candidates are redistributed by each voter’s own rankings. They are not automatically added to Sullivan’s total.
A Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block certification if the incumbent lost was dismissed before Election Day; the department has said it will appeal, according to USA Today. Sullivan’s campaign had not issued a fresh public reply to Trump’s Saturday “OVER” post by early evening.
Peltola’s response
On X at about 6:16 p.m. ET, Peltola posted that the slow count is normal in Alaska and that every ballot will be counted. “It’s a big state where more than 80% of our communities aren’t on the road system,” she wrote. “And we’re going to make sure that every last ballot is counted, and every single Alaskan’s voice is heard.” She did not name Trump in the post.
Earlier Saturday she said more would be known Tuesday and that “the data so far is clear – we have the clearest path to victory.”
Why it matters
Neither Alaska nor Mississippi will decide which party controls the Senate — Democrats already have a projected majority — but the results will set the size of that majority for the last two years of Trump’s term, USA Today noted. Trump made a similar demand on Thursday that votes for the other Dan Sullivan and another rival be given to the incumbent; Saturday’s post went further by declaring the race finished.
Sources: Trump on Truth Social, Trump’s Truth archive, Mediaite, USA Today, @MaryPeltola on X, @MaryPeltola earlier post
