Democrat Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola inched closer to victory Friday, widening her lead in the latest ballot drop in a wild-card race defined by shady tactics and scandal.
asserted
Peltola → inch → tactics
With 88% of the vote reported, Peltola’s lead has grown to 5,800 votes over incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan as Democrats look to expand their largest Senate majority in years.
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Democrats → report → years
Friday’s vote drop nets Peltola more than a thousand additional votes, as the Democrat led Sullivan by just 4,250 with 84% of the vote counted one week after Election Day.
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% → net → Day
Peltola’s lead now exceeds the number of votes Dan J. Sullivan received, a so-called independent candidate reportedly recruited by Democrat operatives to confuse voters.
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Sullivan → exceed → voters
The second Sullivan, whom Republicans call “Decoy Dan,” is pulling 4,199 votes, or 1.7% of the vote.
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Republicans → call → vote
Meanwhile, another self-identified Republican candidate, Gerald Heikes, is pulling more than 2% of the vote.
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candidate → identify → vote
Heikes was also reportedly recruited by an unidentified Midwestern political operative to launch a campaign, and President Donald Trump accused him of being backed by Democrats, The Daily Wire reported.
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Wire → recruit → Democrats
With the combined votes of the two so-called GOP candidates, Sullivan would lead Peltola in a race that could come down to a ranked-choice-voting photo finish.
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that → combine → finish
A Peltola victory means Democrats would head to Washington with an eye-popping 56-44 Senate majority after pulling off historic upsets in what were once deep-red territories, including South Carolina, Kansas, and Texas.
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what → mean → Carolina
Earlier this week, media outlets projected Democrats would narrowly win the Mississippi Senate race, dealing a stunning blow to the GOP’s grip on the Deep South.
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Democrats → project → South
Back in Alaska, Peltola’s campaign has all but declared victory.
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campaign → declare → victory
“As more ballots get counted, it’s clear that Mary’s victory is all but guaranteed and Alaskans have resoundingly rejected Dan Sullivan’s DC self-dealing,” the campaign said in a statement Thursday.
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campaign → count → statement
On November 18, a final official count will be issued, including mail-in ballots received from Alaskans living abroad.
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count → issue → Alaskans
If no candidate has received over 50% of the vote by then, ranked-choice tabulation will begin.
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tabulation → receive → vote
Currently, Peltola has about 49.2% of the vote, and Sullivan has 47%.
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Sullivan → have → %
Despite criticism of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, voters once again rejected an effort to eliminate it.
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voters → rank → it
“Mary ‘Dirty Trick’ Peltola has a 5,800-vote lead over Real Dan Sullivan,” Byron York, chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner, said.
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York → have → Examiner
“The two candidates recruited to damage Sullivan have a combined 9,689 votes.
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candidates → recruit → votes
More votes will be released tonight, with the possibility that Peltola, who currently has 49.2% of the vote, will cross the 50% mark and win outright.
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who → release → mark
Still, Sullivan released a November 4 memo arguing that both the outstanding ballots left to be counted and the ranked-choice system would lead to victory.
Last month, the Justice Department asked a federal court to preserve the possibility of delaying election certification if the presence of a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot confused voters enough to cost Sullivan the election.
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presence → release → election
Such a delay, the administration argued, would allow time to investigate whether the nearly identical candidate names misled voters.
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names → argue → voters
A federal court dismissed the lawsuit.
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court → dismiss → lawsuit
The Trump administration has appealed the decision.
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administration → appeal → decision
The Aporia
