Democrats appear to be pulling some more shenanigans in Alaska as Democratic Senate candidate David Leslie withdrew from the Senate race Monday, making former Rep. Mary Peltola the field’s only Democratic candidate as three Republicans will appear on the ballot.
Leslie’s decision clears the way for a Republican who narrowly missed the top four in the state’s primary to advance to the November ballot.
Leslie, a democratic socialist from Fairbanks who ran to the Left of Peltola, finished fourth in the August 18 primary with roughly 1.1% of the vote. His withdrawal came hours before Alaska’s deadline for candidates to leave the November ballot.
That decision elevated Republican Gerald Heikes, who finished fifth with roughly 1.1% of the vote, into the general election. Heikes finished just 109 votes behind Leslie. The change leaves Peltola as the only Democrat on the ballot and gives Republicans three candidates in the race: incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, Republican challenger Dan J. Sullivan, and Heikes. The move led VoteHub to flip its rating of the race from “Toss Up” to “Tilt Democrat.”
The development comes as Republicans have already accused Democrats of trying to manipulate the unusual Senate contest through the candidacy of Dan J. Sullivan, a retired Petersburg teacher who shares a first and last name with the incumbent Republican senator.
Republicans, including Sen. Sullivan, have accused Dan J. Sullivan of working with Democrats and the Peltola campaign to confuse voters and siphon support away from the incumbent. Dan J. Sullivan, Peltola’s campaign and the Alaska Democratic Party have denied the allegations.
Sen. Sullivan has called his namesake’s candidacy a “dirty political trick coordinated by Democrats and the campaign” of Peltola and accused him of “purposely trying to trick my constituents to rig the election for Peltola.” The allegations followed a legal fight over Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy. Alaska election officials initially removed him from the ballot, but the Alaska Supreme Court ultimately ruled that he was eligible to run. He went on to finish third in the August primary with 2.5% of the vote, securing one of the four spots in the general election.
Now, Leslie’s withdrawal has produced another unusual twist in the race. The top four candidates are relevant because Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system. The top four finishers in the open primary advance to the general election regardless of party, where voters rank the candidates. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed according to voters’ next available choices until someone reaches a majority.
Peltola dominated the primary, receiving 49.5% of the vote to Sullivan’s 41.4%. Dan J. Sullivan received 2.5%, while Leslie and Heikes were separated by only a handful of votes for the final qualifying spot.
Leslie’s withdrawal therefore removes the only other Democrat from a race in which Peltola already enters the general election with a substantial primary showing. It also puts another Republican on the ballot, potentially giving voters who oppose Sullivan another option while creating another set of preferences that could eventually be redistributed under Alaska’s ranked-choice system.
The field is considerably different from the one Alaska voters faced in August, when 16 candidates competed for four spots. The Senate race is expected to be one of the country’s most closely watched contests as Democrats seek to gain seats in the chamber. Peltola is seeking a promotion to the Senate after serving in the House from 2022 to 2025, while Sullivan is seeking a third term representing Alaska.
For Republicans, Leslie’s departure means the Democrats’ alleged efforts to shape the race have not ended with the Dan Sullivan controversy. For Democrats, it means Peltola will enter November without another Democrat competing for first-choice votes. Either way, a Senate race that was already among the country’s strangest just became even more complicated.
.png)
.png)
