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Republican Nick Begich III has won election to Congress.

That’s according to the unofficial final vote count completed Wednesday, and the tabulation of ranked choice ballots.

Begich prevailed over incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola with 48.4% of first-choice votes. The minor congressional candidates — John Wayne Howe of the Alaska Independence Party and a federal inmate, Eric Hafner, who filed as a Democrat — took only 5% of the vote, and the tabulation of those ballots increased Begich’s lead. After ranked choice tabulation, Begich had 51.3% of the vote to Peltola’s 48.7%.

Begich posted a statement on Facebook saying there was much work ahead to improve the lives of Alaskans.

“I’d like to thank Congresswoman Mary Peltola for her service to the state and nation in what is an exceptionally challenging role during an exceptionally challenging moment in our national history,” he said.

Begich’s win flips a seat from Democrat to Republican, adding to the GOP’s slim majority in the House. With three seats still undecided, the Republicans now have 219 members in their majority. The Democratic minority is 213.

Peltola said serving as Alaska’s congresswoman “has been the honor of my life.”

“Nick, I’m rooting for you,” she said in a statement once the results came out. “Please don’t forget when D.C. people keep telling you that you are one of three (members of the state congressional delegation) you are actually one of more than seven hundred thousand Alaskans who are ready to fight for our state, myself included.”

Peltola, a former state legislator, is the only Alaska Native person ever elected to Congress, and the first person elected under Alaska’s system of open primaries and ranked choice voting.

In 2022, she ran on a campaign theme of “fish, family, freedom.” One of her priorities was to rein in the Bering Sea trawl fleet, which is widely blamed, particularly in western Alaska, for poor salmon returns.

Despite low name recognition outside of her home region in Bethel, she finished fourth in a special primary election, when hers was one of 49 names on the ballot. That was enough to get her a spot on the special general election ballot, with Begich and former Gov. Sarah Palin.

Peltola finished first on election night in 2022. When ranked choices were tallied, Palin gained votes from Begich’s ballots, but not enough to catch Peltola. It was a similar story months later, when Peltola won in the regular 2022 election.

In Congress she joined bipartisan groups, spoke up for gun-owners’ rights and tried to put some distance between herself and the Democratic administration.

Begich, a tech entrepreneur and business investor from Chugiak, has never held elected office. He will be sworn in on Jan. 3, 2025, to Alaska’s sole seat in the U.S. House.

His grandfather, also named Nick Begich, was Alaska’s Congressman from 1971 until he disappeared on a chartered flight from Anchorage to Juneau in October 1972.

Begich is the nephew of former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and former state Sen. Tom Begich. Unlike the new congressman-elect, the other Begich family members to hold public office were Democrats.

Alaska’s elected leaders issued statements of congratulations to Begich. Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s celebrated the Republican victory.

“With President Trump returning to office, Alaska’s future looks bright once again,” he said. “I am confident that the Biden-Harris policies, which have worked to strangle our economy and undermine our Alaskan way of life over the past four years, are thankfully nearing an end.”

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan also highlighted Trump’s return to office in his congratulatory message to Begich posted on X.

“I’m looking forward to working with you to unlock Alaska’s energy potential, protect Alaskans’ way of life, enact President Trump’s agenda and put America—and Alaska—back on track,” he said. “And thank you, @Rep_Peltola, for your service to Alaska in the House—I wish you the very best in the future.”

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said she looked forward to working with Begich. And she called Peltola, whom she served with in the state Legislature, a friend.

“You have represented Alaskans well throughout your short tenure, and navigated this journey while facing unimaginable personal tragedy with grace, humility, and determination,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Alaska has been made better with your service in Congress.”

Peltola’s husband, Gene, died in a plane crash a year after she was sworn in.

The results announced Wednesday will remain unofficial until the Division of Elections certifies the vote at the end of the month.

This story has been updated. 

The Alaska Division of Elections is set to announce its final unofficial vote count Wednesday before tabulating voters’ ranked choices to determine the winners of races where no candidate got a majority of the vote in the first round.

Gavel Alaska will livestream the tabulation process from the Division of Elections in Juneau. The broadcast is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. You can watch the process live at the video above, on KTOO 360TV, or on Gavel Alaska’s YouTube channel.

The final count and the results of tabulation will determine the winners — pending certification — in several key races, including the race for U.S. House and eight legislative contests.

Republican Nick Begich III has already declared victory in the U.S. House race. He leads Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a Democrat, by roughly two percentage points, but is short of the majority necessary to give him a first-round victory. Second choice votes from the 5% of voters who chose minor candidates in the first round are not expected to give Peltola the lead. We’ll find out who those voters chose as their second choice during this evening’s tabulation.

In the tabulation process, if no candidate receives more than 50% of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Those voters’ second choices are then redistributed to the remaining candidates.

This process continues until one candidate secures a majority of votes or only two candidates remain, at which point the candidate with the most votes wins.

The results will remain unofficial until they’re certified by the Division of Elections. The estimated date for that is Nov. 30.

Here are the eight legislative races that will be decided during tabulation:

• Senate District D, a northern and central Kenai Peninsula race that includes incumbent Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and conservative challenger Ben Carpenter, both Republicans, and Democrat Tina Wegener
• Senate District F on the Anchorage Hillside, where incumbent Republican Sen. James Kaufman faces Democrat Janice Park and Republican Harold Borbridge
• Senate District L in Chugiak-Eagle River, where incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Merrick faces conservative Republican challenger Jared Goecker and Democrat Lee Hammermeister
• House District 6, including Homer and the southern Kenai Peninsula, where incumbent Republican Rep. Sarah Vance faces independent Brent Johnson and Republican Dawson Slaughter
• House District 28, an all-Republican race for open seat in Wasilla that includes Elexie Moore, Steve Menard and Jessica Wright
• House District 36, a wide swath of the Interior stretching from Glennallen to Delta Junction to the Yukon River drainage, where Republican Rebecca Schwanke, Democrat Brandon Putuuqti Kowalski, Republican Pamela Goode and Libertarian James Fields are competing for an open seat
• House District 38, the Lower Kuskokwim, where Democrat Nellie Unangik Jimmie faces incumbent Democratic Rep. CJ McCormick, Veterans Party candidate Willy Keppel and Democrat Victoria Sosa
• House District 40, the North Slope and Northwest Arctic, where Democrats Robyn Niayuq Burke and Saima Ikrik Chase face Republican-turned-independent Rep. Thomas Ikaaq Baker

A ballot measure that would repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting and open primary system remains on track to fail, though its margin has shrunk even further, to just 45 votes.

In the latest update Tuesday afternoon from the Division of Elections, “No” on Ballot Measure 2 leads by just 0.02% in a race in which 315,633 votes have been counted to date. Tuesday’s update included 2,050 newly counted votes.

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The new ballots came largely voters in Southeast Alaska and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

“No” took the lead by 192 votes on Monday after trailing since Election Day.

The closely watched ballot measure would replace Alaska’s top-four open primaries and ranked choice general elections with party primaries and single-choice general elections. The No on 2 campaign attracted nearly $14 million  in contributions, largely from outside the state, and outspent the Yes on 2 campaign by a 100-to-one margin.

Roughly 5,800 ballots remain to be counted on Wednesday, the final day of counting in Alaska’s elections. It’s also the last day for absentee ballots to arrive from overseas voters. Division of Elections Director Carol Beecher said by email that the remaining ballots will mostly come from voters in Anchorage and rural Alaska.

Election officials will tabulate the ranked choice results in races where no candidate reached 50% of the vote at 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The standings in other races remained unchanged following Tuesday’s update.

The ballot measure that would repeal Alaska’s open primary and ranked choice voting system is now failing by the narrowest of margins, according to the latest results update from the Division of Elections on Monday.

Out of 314,056 ballots counted so far, “No” on Ballot Measure 2 now leads by 192 votes, 50.03% to 49.97%.

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Monday marked the first time since election night that No has taken the lead. No on 2 Campaign Manager Juli Lucky said she was not surprised No pulled ahead.

“We’ve heard from a lot of voters all over the state about how important it is to have representation that looks like them,” Lucky said. “What we heard from Alaskans was that there was a lot of support to keep open primaries and ranked choice voting in place.”

Former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, an advocate for the repeal measure, said Yes on 2 was thoroughly outspent and didn’t have enough money to counter what repeal opponents were saying in their barrage of ads and mailers.

“It was like 100 to one,” Leman said. “And you know, when you have a campaign like that, it’s really tough to respond, and especially to all the deception. It was really just a very difficult campaign.”

Some repeal advocates are casting aspersions on the integrity of the vote counting. Leman, when he was lieutenant governor, used to be in charge of the Division of Elections. He said he doesn’t see any cause for suspicion. Alaska, he noted, gives up to 15 days for ballots to arrive for overseas military voters.

“I have no reason not to trust the director of the Division of Elections,” he said. “She’s an incredibly competent and honest person.”

Ballot Measure 2 is one of a handful of tight races that remains unresolved nearly two weeks after Election Day.

In the U.S. House race, Republican challenger Nick Begich is holding on to his lead. Monday’s count shows he’s ahead with 48.5%. He declared victory on Saturday, after a data company called Decision Desk HQ called the race for him.

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Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a Democrat, trails with 46.3%. The Division of Elections will tabulate ranked choices on Wednesday, but those ballots may not help her. A conservative Alaskan Independence Party candidate, John Wayne Howe, has about 4% of the vote, quadruple the share received by federal inmate Eric Hafner, who filed as a Democrat.

Another of the unsettled races, for House District 18 in North Anchorage, remains tight. Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, now leads his Republican challenger, David Nelson by just 25 out of 3,530 votes.

A handful of additional races where no candidate reached 50% of the vote will be determined when officials tabulate voters’ ranked choices on Wednesday.

Republican Nick Begich declared victory in the race for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday, celebrating an impending win over Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola.

“Alaskans have spoken,” Begich said in a social media post. “It will be the honor of a lifetime to have the opportunity to serve as your voice in Congress.”

The organization Decision Desk HQ projected Begich would win the seat Saturday morning, flipping the seat from Democratic to Republican control. The Associated Press had yet to call the race as of late Saturday afternoon. Begich leads Peltola by more than 8,300 votes, 48.7% to 46.1%.

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A representative for Peltola did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Alaska Division of Elections added roughly 6,800 votes to its count on Saturday.

The update narrowed the gap in another high-profile statewide race, a ballot measure that would repeal the state’s open primary and ranked choice voting system.

As of Saturday’s update, “Yes” on Ballot Measure 2 leads by just 895 votes in a race that has seen 310,289 votes counted so far. The margin is now 50.1% to 49.9%, well within the 0.5% threshold that would trigger a state-funded recount.

The update did not significantly change the standings in other races.

The Division of Elections estimated Saturday that roughly 9,000 ballots were left to count. Counting is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday, Nov. 20.

The election is expected to be certified on Nov. 30.

Correction: An version of this story misstated Alaska’s recount procedures. Races with a less than 0.5% margin can be recounted at the state’s expense, but the recount must be requested. Recounts are only automatic in the case of a tie.

Nine days after Election Day, all of Alaska’s 403 polling stations have reported results.

On Thursday, the Alaska Division of Elections reported that a tally sheet from the village of Atqasuk, a village of about 280 people in the North Slope Borough, had reached state officials.

Statewide, an estimated 30,000-35,000 absentee, questioned and early votes remain to be counted. Atqasuk was the last precinct to report results from Election Day itself.

Carol Beecher, director of the Division of Elections, said workers also added scanned ballots from the town of Coffman Cove, in Southeast Alaska.

Altogether, the division added 37 ballots to the statewide count on Thursday.

Those new ballots didn’t change the leaders of any races. The closest statewide race remains Ballot Measure 2, the proposed repeal of the state’s open primary election and ranked choice general election. As of Thursday night, “yes” on repeal led by 2,425 votes out of 304,386 cast statewide.

Wednesday is expected to bring the final unofficial count and will be tabulation day for the handful of state races that will be decided by ranked choice voting.

Ballots from all 403 precincts must reach elections officials before Wednesday in order to be included in the tabulation. Two years ago, ballots from six rural villages failed to arrive on time and were not fully counted in the general election.

After Wednesday, elections workers will hand-count randomly selected precincts to check for errors in the machine count. The division expects to certify the results by the end of the month.