Alaska’s U.S. Senate race is a tie as more votes are counted, keeping Peltola and Sullivan close

This article is under development and will be updated.

Alaska is on track to maintain its Outgoing Republican senator in a closely watched race that will help determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the U.S. Senate.

With 279 out of 401 precincts reporting results Tuesday evening, Senator Dan Sullivan had 48.6% of voters’ first choice votes. Democratic challenger Mary Peltola had 47.4% of the vote.

The candidates were separated by only 2,470 votes out of 201,705 votes cast.

Independent challenger Dan J. Sullivan had 1.7%and Republican challenger Gerald Heikes had 2.1%.

Sullivan narrow lead follows a string of Democratic victories in U.S. Senate elections across the country Tuesday night. If Peltola wins, she should become the 55th or 56th Democratic senator in a large Democratic majority. If Sullivan wins, he will be a member of a reduced Republican caucus in the Senate that will now be in the minority.

Some Republican officials said before the initial results that they would challenge the legality of a Peltola victory, citing a New York Times report that Democratic activists had recruited independent candidate Dan J. Sullivan in an effort to siphon votes from incumbent Dan S. Sullivan.

But on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump – who ordered civil charges against Peltola – told the Times he would not contest the election results.