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We → ’re → ?
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Nine days after the Democratic 'bluenami' turned Washington upside down, the country's most controversial Senate race in Alaska remains too close to call, but is on track to cause yet another major upset for Republicans.
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race → sign → Republicans
On Wednesday night, the AP announced it has processed 86 percent of the ballots from the Last Frontier – and the new batch expanded Democratic hopeful Mary Peltola's lead over Trump-backed GOP incumbent Dan Sullivan.
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batch → announce → Sullivan
The fight for the Last Frontier's Senate seat has attracted international attention as Democrats in the state have been accused of recruiting a similarly named candidate to run against GOP Senator Sullivan, allegedly intending to confuse voters and help Peltola.
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Democrats → attract → Peltola
The updated vote count comes just a few days after the president himself weighed in on the midterm battle on Saturday, claiming on Truth Social that 'the Alaska Race is OVER' and 'Dan Sullivan WON, BY A LOT!'
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Sullivan → update → LOT
On Tuesday, Trump lashed out against Peltola again, saying that 'all votes going to the Fake Dan Sullivan' should be given to the Republican nominee and labeled the Senate race a 'rigged election.'
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votes → lash → race
No one else declared a winner yet and since the president's post, Peltola has actually gotten further ahead of Sullivan from a little over 600 to almost 4,000 votes.
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Peltola → declare → votes
This follows news that an Alaska judge denied a request from the Democrat's campaign to access records identifying rejected absentee votes during the ongoing count.
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judge → follow → count
Peltola's campaign sued last week seeking information about absentee ballots that were flagged for potential rejection and the reason they were flagged.
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they → sue → rejection
But Alaska Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews ruled that the request for the records was 'simply not reasonable nor required right now,' while state attorneys cited voter privacy interests as another concern about the request.
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attorneys → rule → request
Democratic hopeful Mary Peltola managed to expand her lead over Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan after the AP processed 86 percent of votes
Trump-backed GOP nominee Sullivan has not commented on the updated batch of balltos but shown himself confident after November 3 that he can still win the Last Frontier's Senate race
Despite that, the Democrat celebrated her recent gain on social media, saying that 'she continues to overperform in traditionally conservative areas around the state which she views as 'yet another proof point that Sullivan's path to victory is non-existent.'
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path → manage → victory
Peltola added: 'It is clear that Sullivan's remaining pockets of support are getting smaller by the day.'
Sullivan, on the other hand, has not yet reacted to the updated vote count but remained confident after election day that he will win, if the state's unique ranked-choice voting tabulation comes to play.
Under Alaska's election system, if a candidate has more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes, they win outright, without a need to use ranked choice voting.
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they → add → voting
But if no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated.
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candidate → win → votes
Ballots that ranked a failed candidate as their first choice are then re-counted as first-preference ballots for the next-highest-ranked candidate in that round.
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that → rank → round
For now, both candidates remain below the decisive 50 percent mark, with Peltola at 48.9 percent against Sullivan, who holds around 47.3 percent of the votes.
But it might take until the end of the month before Alaskans will find out who their next senator will be.
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senator → remain → month
The state's deadline to finish counting all remaining absentee, mail-in and provisional ballots is on November 18.
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deadline → finish → November
And even then, the target date set by the Alaska Division of Elections to officially certify the election results is not before November 25.
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date → set → November
An accelerated FBI criminal probe into the 'decoy' candidate scandal happening at the same time could further turn this election thriller into a dramatic saga and cast more shadow over the Last Frontier.
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probe → happen → Frontier
Trump declared Dan Sullivan as the winner in Alaska's tight Senate race last Saturday.
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Trump → declare → race
The updated ballot count shows from the AP shows a different direction
Two Dan Sullivans appear on Alaska's midterm ballot
Two sources familiar with the investigation told the Daily Mail that agents questioned Peltola's former campaign manager on November 3.
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agents → update → November
The FBI approached Elisa Rios in Chicago last week, two sources revealed.
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sources → approach → Chicago
'Full speed ahead,' is how one source described the inquiry.
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source → describe → inquiry
Rios was allegedly involved in recruiting the second Dan Sullivan in an apparent effort to confuse voters and peel away votes from the incumbent.
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Rios → involve → incumbent
Peltola has denied any involvement in the alleged scheme.
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Peltola → deny → scheme
But the other 'decoy' Dan Sullivan has attracted 4,100 votes, making his candidacy potentially determinative.
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candidacy → attract → votes
There's fear among conservatives that the 'decoy' candidate could take decisive votes from the incumbent and hand Peltola a win.
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candidate → be → win
The Daily Mail contacted Sullivan's campaign for comment.
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Mail → contact → comment
The Aporia
