Republican Nick Begich moves closer to Alaska U.S. House victory

Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich III moved closer to defeating Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola after 46,000 additional Alaska ballots were counted by Wednesday.

Begich was ahead by 10,133 votes before Tuesday’s ballot count. He now leads by 9,435 votes, or just over 3%.

More than 38,000 ballots were counted on Tuesday. Alaska Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher said 8,580 additional ballots were counted on Wednesday. According to the division, there are more than 26,000 ballots still to be counted.

State election officials have chosen to initially count only Alaskans’ first-choice votes. If neither Begich nor Peltola gets more than 50%, the winner would then be decided by the state’s ranked choice tabulation process on Nov. 20.

After Tuesday’s count, Begich had 49.04%. Peltola had 45.86%. Alaska Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe had 3.89%. Democrat Eric Hafner had 0.99%.

Spokespeople for the Begich and Peltola campaigns did not immediately respond on Wednesday to requests for comment on Tuesday’s ballot count. Neither candidate reacted publicly to the newly released results.

Meanwhile, a ballot measure to repeal Alaska’s system of ranked choice voting and open primaries remains on track to pass. Wednesday’s count saw the deficit shrink for supporters of the voting system from 4,137 to 2,441 votes. The repeal effort leads by just under 1% of counted ballots.

[Updated full Alaska election results]

Tuesday’s count saw some shifts in key legislative races, but no change in leaders:

• Anchorage Democratic Rep. Cliff Groh was ahead by 28 votes against former Republican Rep. David Nelson for a North Anchorage House seat. With more than 500 votes counted on Tuesday, Groh now leads by a razor-thin 19 votes.

• Fairbanks Democratic Sen. Scott Kawasaki is ahead against Republican challenger Leslie Hajdukovich by 351 votes after more than 2,000 ballots were counted on Tuesday. Kawasaki had led by 74 votes.

• Democrat Ted Eischeid also widened his lead against Rep. Stanley Wright, R-Anchorage, for a Muldoon House seat. Eischeid now leads by over 4%.

Despite the lack of clarity around results, Alaska state House and Senate leaders felt confident enough last week to announce they had formed bipartisan coalitions in both legislative chambers.

Before Tuesday’s count, three precincts in rural Alaska had not reported results. As of Wednesday, Atqasuk — a North Slope village of around 275 people — was the only precinct to not have reported any results from the Nov. 5 election.

Three precincts in Western Alaska had previously shown strong support for third-party candidates for president. After Tuesday’s ballot count, Aniak and Kipnuk now show Vice President Kamala Harris comfortably ahead in both villages.

At least two more ballot counts are planned for Friday and Nov. 20 — the same day as the ranked choice tabulation process is set to take place.

Alaska election as of Wednesday morning:

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.