2026 Alaska U.S. Senate Election
Compare candidates’ positions, polling, and sourced race updates.
Ranked-choice general election
Alaska's top-four primary sent up to four candidates to this ballot, and the general election uses ranked-choice voting: you may rank the candidates in order of preference. If no one wins a majority of first choices, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots count for their next choice, until one candidate has a majority.
About this race
The 2026 U.S. Senate election in Alaska will be held November 3, 2026, to elect a senator to a six-year term for the state's Class II seat, using ranked-choice voting. Two-term Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, a retired Marine Corps colonel and former Alaska attorney general and natural resources commissioner, is seeking a third term and emphasizes energy and resource development, military and Coast Guard investment, fisheries bycatch legislation, and tax relief.
Former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, a Yup'ik Democrat and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, is the leading challenger and centers her campaign on affordability, fisheries, and permitting reform. In the August 18 top-four nonpartisan primary, Peltola finished first with 49.5% and Sullivan second with 41.4%; Republican Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired teacher not related to the incumbent, and Republican Gerald Heikes also advanced.
Alaska has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, and the race is closely watched nationally because it could affect control of the Senate; Peltola has led most recent public polling, while Sullivan retains incumbency and a large outside-spending advantage.
Candidates
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Dan S. Sullivan is the incumbent Republican U.S. Senator from Alaska, first elected in 2014 and re-elected in 2020. A Harvard-educated attorney and retired Marine Corps colonel, he previously served as Alaska Attorney General (2009-2010), Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources (2010-2013), and an assistant secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration. He advanced to the November general election after finishing second in the August 18, 2026 top-four primary with 41.4%, and his campaign emphasizes continued energy and resource development including the Alaska LNG project, military and Coast Guard investment in Alaska, bycatch legislation, and lower taxes on working Alaskans.
Gerald L. "Jer" Heikes is a Palmer, Alaska resident, minister, and perennial candidate who describes himself as a "constitutional Christian conservative." He finished fifth in the August 18, 2026 top-four primary with about 1% of the vote and advanced to the November 3 general election ballot after fourth-place finisher David Leslie withdrew. He has run repeatedly for governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House since 2006, and available sources list no campaign website or detailed policy platform beyond his opposition to abortion.
Mary Peltola is a former U.S. Representative for Alaska's at-large district (2022-2025) and the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress. A Yup'ik Democrat, she previously served in the Alaska House of Representatives (1999-2009), on the Bethel City Council, as a tribal judge, and as executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission. She finished first in the August 18, 2026 top-four primary with 49.5% and is running on an affordability and fisheries platform that includes lowering costs for working Alaskans, banning factory trawling and reducing bycatch, term limits and a congressional stock-trading ban, and permitting reform to expand Alaska energy production.
Dan J. Sullivan Jr. is a retired teacher and former U.S. Forest Service forestry technician from Petersburg, Alaska, who shares a name with the Republican incumbent senator but is not related to him. He filed to run as a Republican, and after the Alaska Division of Elections sought to remove him from the ballot, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in 2026 that he could appear; he finished third in the August 18 top-four primary with about 2.5% and advanced to the November general election. He emphasizes affordable housing, access to healthcare, lowering the cost of living, sustainable resource development, and preserving Alaska's open primaries and ranked-choice voting.
Forecast
Mary Peltola favored
Mary Peltola: 65% modeled win probability with a +2.5 pts estimated margin
Polling
13 polls, newest firstAbout this research
Data compiled from public sources and analyzed using AI. Last updated October 10, 2026. Visit candidate websites for the most current information.