Alaska’s nonpartisan primary election has concluded with four candidates advancing to the November general election in a contest that could play a decisive role in determining the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. Incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and former Democratic Representative Mary Peltola emerged from the August 18 primary alongside two other candidates, setting the stage for a competitive statewide race.
Alaska remains one of a handful of states expected to help decide which political party controls the Senate during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s time in the White House. While Alaska has a history of reliably conservative voting patterns in federal elections, the state has also elected officials across the political spectrum. Most registered voters in the state are not affiliated with any political party, and both the Alaska House and Senate operate under bipartisan coalitions.
Democrats have rallied behind Mary Peltola to challenge Sullivan for the seat. Peltola, who is Yup’ik and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, won both special and regular elections in 2022 for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat before losing her seat in 2024 to Republican Begich. During her campaigns, Peltola has emphasized affordability for Alaskans and shaking up the political establishment. A statewide AARP poll conducted in September indicated Sullivan trailing Peltola by 5 percentage points.
Senator Dan Sullivan is running for his third term in office. A former state attorney general and natural resources commissioner as well as a military veteran, Sullivan defeated Alaska’s last Democratic senator in 2014. His campaign platform centers on supporting the military, opening additional public lands for oil and gas extraction, and defending Trump’s tax and spending legislation.
Adding an unusual dynamic to the general election ballot, two candidates named Dan Sullivan will appear alongside each other. Challenger Dan J. Sullivan, a retired teacher from the island community of Petersburg, secured one of the four top spots in the primary after suing to gain ballot access. He is also running as a Republican, raising concerns among party strategists that voters might experience confusion and accidentally mark the wrong candidate.
The fourth candidate on the general election ballot is Gerald Heikes, who is also running as a Republican. Heikes does not maintain a campaign website and did not issue an official candidate statement, though he has a history of prior political bids, including runs for governor in 2018, 2014, 2010, and 2006, as well as a candidacy for Alaska’s House seat in 2020.
The election will be decided under Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, which voters officially approved in 2020 and first utilized during the 2022 election cycle. Under this framework, voters rank candidates by preference rather than selecting just a single contender. If any candidate secures an absolute majority of first-preference votes, they win immediately. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and those ballots are redistributed to the voters’ next-ranked choices. This instant-runoff process continues through subsequent rounds until one candidate commands a majority of the remaining pool. Alaska and Maine remain the only two states utilizing ranked-choice voting for statewide elections.
