Two Senate races remained undecided Thursday as lawyers requested ballots be preserved in one race while President Donald Trump demanded the other race be called.
In Alaska, Democrat former Rep. Mary Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan by fewer than 700 votes Thursday morning with 70% of the vote in, according to Decision Desk; Peltola held 102,962 votes to the senator’s 102,325.
The so called “Decoy Dan,” independent candidate Dan J. Sullivan, captured 3,600 votes, and another GOP candidate, Gerald L. Heikes, received 4,846 votes. Ahead of the election, The New York Times reported that Peltola campaign aides recruited Dan J. Sullivan to run in an attempt to appear on the ballot and dilute incumbent Dan S. Sullivan’s vote, although Peltola’s campaign denied the effort.
Trump on Thursday called for the race to be settled in favor of the incumbent GOP senator.
“The vote totals for the Fake Dan Sullivan, plus the other ‘slug’ that the Dems put on the Ballot, should be immediately given to the REAL Dan Sullivan, and the Election is over – He easily wins. There is no other fair solution!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
The current Senate tally is 54 Democrats to 44 Republicans, according to Decision Desk as of Thursday morning. If Democrats are victorious in both Alaska and Mississippi, also undecided, it would bring their total to nine Senate pickups, after flipping seats in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, South Carolina, North Carolina, Maine, and Ohio.
Alaska uses ranked choice voting, in which multiple rounds of vote counting occur if no candidate reaches a majority in the first round. The state primary allows four candidates to advance to the general election; Dan J. Sullivan and Heikes, whom the Times reported was also recruited to run, were among the four to advance.
The Justice Department sued Alaska to block certification of the results if it was determined that voters mistakenly cast ballots for Dan J. Sullivan instead of Dan S. Sullivan.
Alaska will count mail ballots arriving up to 10 days after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked by Nov. 3, so all four candidates could tally more votes after Nov. 13.
The Senate race in Mississippi remained undecided as of Thursday morning, though Democrat Scott Colom is expected to unseat incumbent GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith; Colom led by fewer than 1,900 votes with 95% of the vote in. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins drew more than 20,000 votes, according to Decision Desk.
On Thursday, lawyers for the Hyde-Smith campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote to 82 county election officials demanding that affidavit ballots be separated from the rest of the ballot count and preserved. These ballots are cast by voters whose eligibility or qualifications cannot be fully resolved at the polling place, including voters who lack photo ID.
Mississippi will continue counting ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive up to five days after the election.
In addition, a governor’s race and dozens of House races remained undecided Thursday.
In the House, Decision Desk reports a growing Democrat majority with 251 members to just 153 Republicans. Another 31 House races are undetermined, but the Associated Press separately reported that 48 House races remained uncalled as of Thursday morning.
The Kansas governor’s race had not been called as of Thursday morning, but it appeared headed for another Democratic victory, with Cindy Holscher leading her Republican opponent, Ty Masterson, by more than 7,000 votes, according to the Associated Press.
A Democrat gubernatorial win would be the second in a row in the traditionally Republican state, Democrat Laura Kelly as the current governor. Democrats already flipped a Senate seat in the state, as Adam Hamilton defeated Sen. Roger Marshall.
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
