By SUZANNE DOWNING
Nov. 14, 2026 — Alaska’s latest tranche of ballots produced no change in the leaders of its three statewide candidate races Saturday, with roughly 97% of the expected vote counted and several legislative contests still separated by razor-thin margins.
The Division of Elections’ unofficial report, timestamped 3:15 pm Nov. 14, lists 283,618 ballots counted statewide, an increase of 4,284 over Friday’s report.
Mary Peltola widened her lead over US Sen. Dan Sullivan, Congressman Nick Begich maintained his advantage over Bill Hill, and Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins strengthened his first-choice majority in the governor’s race.
The next major milestone is Wednesday, Nov. 18, when the Division of Elections is scheduled to conduct ranked-choice tabulation for races that require it. Few will require it.
Meanwhile, Peltola now has 140,637 votes, or 49.94% of the Senate vote when write-ins are included. Sullivan has 129,424 votes, or 45.96%.
Her lead increased to 11,213 votes, up from 10,412 Friday. In the latest batch, Peltola added 2,397 votes and Sullivan added 1,596.
Republican Gerald Heikes has 6,002 votes, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has 4,652, and write-ins account for 872.
Peltola remains just below a first-choice majority in the detailed report. The dashboard on the website rounds up the numbers.
Nick Begich has 133,707 votes, or 47.71%, compared with Hill’s 116,932 votes, or 41.72%.
His lead stands at 16,775 votes, down just 58 votes from Friday. Begich added 1,654 votes in the update, while Hill added 1,712.
Democrat Eric Hafner has 21,815 votes, or 7.78%, and Libertarian Jim McDermott has 7,384, or 2.63%. Write-ins total 430.
With Begich below 50%, voters’ lower-ranked preferences remain consequential to the outcome.
The Kreiss-Tomkins/Zac Johnson ticket for governor has 141,623 votes, or 50.90%, up from 50.81% Friday.
Bernadette Wilson and Mike Shower have 77,943 votes, or 28.01%; the Dave Bronson/Church ticket has 37,913, or 13.63%; and the Treg Taylor/English ticket has 19,977, or 7.18%.
If Kreiss-Tomkins retains a majority when counting is complete, the governor’s race will not require ranked-choice transfers. It appears he has won outright without vote transfers.
Close legislative races remain close
The latest report shows modest movement in a few closely watched legislative contests, while others are unchanged in the first-choice standings:
- House District 6: Sarah Vance’s 13-vote lead is unchanged. She has 4,826 votes to Brent Johnson’s 4,813.
- House District 23: Jamie Allard’s lead over Arlington grew from 748 votes Friday to 790 Saturday. She gained 144 votes in the latest update, compared with Arlington’s 102.
- House District 24: Ken McCarty’s lead over Gina Wall narrowed from 43 votes to 23. McCarty has 3,697 votes to Wall’s 3,674. Both are Republicans.
- House District 11: Julie Coulombe’s lead over Danni Hall increased from 155 votes to 164, with 4,256 votes to Hall’s 4,092.
- Senate District M: Cathy Tilton’s 79-vote first-choice lead over Ryan Berry is unchanged, 5,236 to 5,157. Neither has a majority.
- House District 29: Garret Nelson remains 22 votes ahead of Steve Menard, 2,853 to 2,831. Neither has a majority.
- House District 25: DeLena Johnson remains ahead with 2,963 votes. Michael Bowles has 2,710 and Steven Merritt has 2,692, leaving an 18-vote gap between second and third place before transfers.
Ballot measures hold their direction
Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal Alaska’s open-primary and ranked-choice voting system, continues to trail. No has 144,098 votes, or 53.62%, to Yes at 124,631, or 46.38%.
Ballot Measure 3, the citizenship measure, leads with 184,202 Yes votes, or 68.38%, to 85,167 No votes, or 31.62%.
The roughly 97% completion estimate refers to the expected vote. Turnout at this point is nearly 47%.
Nov. 18 is also the deadline for eligible absentee ballots mailed from overseas to arrive and the scheduled final regional count of absentee and questioned ballots. The state’s target date for certification is Nov. 25.
