Democrat Mary Peltola is likely to win Alaska’s Senate race, as vote counting continues
Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola speaks during an election night watch party in Anchorage.Justin Sullivan / GettyShareAdd NBC News to GoogleNov. 14, 2026, 3:52 PM ESTBy Ben KamisarFormer Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola is likely to win Alaska’s Senate race, according to an NBC News Decision Desk analysis, as vote-counting continues in the state.
Peltola has expanded her narrow lead over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan with each new batch of votes reported this week. A “likely” characterization indicates that the NBC News Decision Desk has at least 95% confidence that Peltola will win the race.
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If Peltola wins, Democrats will have a 56-44 majority in the Senate next year.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow a router problem at one FAA site led to a nationwide ground stopFOR SUBSCRIBERSA dead homeless man was known as ‘Box Mike’ — until a global search revealed his true identityFOR SUBSCRIBERSIran-backed Houthis tighten siege on strategic Yemen city, sparking famine fearsFOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Yalta 2.0’: Why some are wary of a Trump-Putin-Xi summitFOR SUBSCRIBERSThe rise and fall of Russell Brand: From controversial comedian to convicted rapistFOR SUBSCRIBERSDemocrats say Trump family businesses top upcoming investigationsFOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat does the blue wave mean for trans rights? It’s complicatedFOR SUBSCRIBERSFor Victoria’s Secret, inclusivity has become sexy — and a solid business strategyFOR SUBSCRIBERSHow Nvidia ‘honeypot’ spy scandal could backfire on ChinaFOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Force him to veto it’: Democrats plot their push to reverse Trump’s safety net cutsFOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s treasury and commerce secretaries feud as Nvidia scandal roils WashingtonFOR SUBSCRIBERSSchumer, Van Hollen and the next big test for Senate DemocratsFOR SUBSCRIBERSWhy Microsoft took so long to recover from its massive outageFOR SUBSCRIBERSDenny’s where Nvidia was born to reinstall sign honoring companyFOR SUBSCRIBERSNvidia’s board is still investigating Jensen Huang despite his resignation, sources saySlide 1 of 1The race remains uncalled a week after polls close as votes continue to be counted. Alaskans vote heavily by mail and ballots postmarked by Election Day are counted as long as they arrived by Nov. 13 — and a few days later than that for valid overseas voters.
In a race with such a narrow margin, these final votes are important, especially given Alaska’s ranked-choice rules.
If no candidate wins a majority of the vote on the first ballot, the lowest-placed candidate is eliminated and second-choice votes from that candidate’s supporters are counted. The process then repeats until someone gets a majority.
