Trump declares Alaska Senate race over for Sullivan despite narrow Peltola lead

President Trump declared the Alaska Senate race "over" and Sen. Dan Sullivan the winner, despite Sullivan trailing Democrat Mary Peltola by fewer than 700 votes with many ballots uncounted. Trump argued votes cast for minor candidates, including "Decoy Dan" Sullivan and Gerald Heikes, should be added to the Republican senator's total. He also urged the Justice Department to investigate the decoy candidate, whom he called a Democratic ploy. Alaska's slow counting process allows 10 days for ballots to arrive and uses ranked-choice voting. A New York Times analysis suggested Peltola would gain from retabulation, as many decoy Sullivan voters ranked her second.