(NBC NEWS) Republican Dan Sullivan won Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, defeating first-term incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. Sullivan led Begich by about 8,100 votes on Election Night last week and held a comparable edge after election workers had counted about 20,000 absentee, early-voted and questioned ballots late Tuesday. Thousands more ballots remained to be counted, but the results indicated that Begich could not overcome Sullivan’s lead.
The Alaska seat was initially considered key to the Republicans’ hopes of taking control of the U.S. Senate, but that goal was accomplished before the Alaska race was decided. Sullivan, in a statement, said he was humbled and sounded a note of inclusion.
While it was a hard-fought race, moving forward “I want to emphasize that my door will always be open to all Alaskans,” he said.
