President Trump declared the Alaska Senate race “over” and his preferred candidate, Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) the winner – even though the outcome of his race against former Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) was far from certain.
Trump has already expressed outrage over the inclusion of “decoy” Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot and what he calls a Democratic ploy to lure the senator’s votes. He also urged the Justice Department to investigate.
But on Saturday, he went so far as to declare that Sen. Sullivan “won” the race despite the slim margin and outstanding votes. He trailed Peltola by less than 700 votes.
“Daniel Sullivan is well ahead in the Alaska Senate race. When you add Daniel (3,600, 1.68%) to Dan and Gerald Heikes (4,846, 2.27%), Sen. Dan Sullivan is ahead by several thousand votes. Remember, Heikes was also fraudulently entered into the race,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“I don’t know why it’s taking so long to announce his victory. It should be immediate! Anyone who votes for Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., a man who tried to change his initial, but failed to do so in time, and who was otherwise apolitical – never even voted – is a vote for Senator Dan Sullivan. The Alaska race is OVER. Dan Sullivan won, BY A LOT! ” Trump wrote.
Alaska, which covers an expanse of 586,000 square miles, has a notoriously slow counting process. The state allows 10 days from Election Day for votes to arrive and be counted, and 15 days for out-of-state ballots. It also uses ranked-choice voting, meaning voters whose first-choice candidate loses have their votes counted for their next choice.
Trump proposed Thursday that Sullivan also get the votes cast by minor candidates. “The vote totals for fake Dan Sullivan, plus the other ‘slug’ the Democrats put on the ballot, should be immediately given to the REAL Dan Sullivan, and the election is over,” he wrote.
Such a result would prevent Sullivan from being among a string of Republicans who fell to Democrats in red states in Tuesday’s electoral bloodbath.
Here’s the latest on the “Decoy Dan” scandal in the Alaska Senate race:
A New York Times analysis published on November 5 concluded that Sullivan was unlikely to make significant gains from re-tabulation, since Peltola was actually the second choice of many voters who supported the Sullivan “decoy.” The Times earlier reported that Peltola’s allies had recruited decoy Sullivan to run.
The latest returns in Alaska show that only 74% of precincts reported Trump’s post.
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