Alaska, Mississippi Senate races separated by razor-thin vote margins
Alaska, Mississippi Senate races separated by razor-thin vote margins
Races between the candidates for U.S. Senate in Alaska and Mississippi are separated by razor-thin margins days after polls closed in the crucial midterm elections.
In Mississippi, where 95.6% of the votes have been counted, according to the Associated Press, Democratic candidate Scott Colom leads incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., 464,926 votes to 463,788, as of Thursday morning.
In Alaska, former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola, leads incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, by less than 700 votes.
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While Alaska still has a quarter of its votes to count, according to the AP, if the gap between Peltola and Sullivan remains this slim, the introduction of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan will loom large in post-election analyses.
In July, the U.S. Justice Department opened an investigation into Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher who entered the Senate race in May.
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An October report from The New York Times said Daniel J. Sullivan had met with Democratic operatives and members of Peltola's campaign staff to encourage him to run. Peltola has denied any involvement in the scheme.
One voter interviewed after he cast his ballot Tuesday revealed that he believed he accidentally voted for the wrong Dan Sullivan.
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"I don't remember seeing the other Dan Sullivan, I totally forgot to look for two Dan Sullivans," the bewildered voter revealed. "I definitely intended to vote for the real Dan Sullivan."
As of Thursday morning, Daniel J. Sullivan, aka "Decoy Dan," had garnered 3,600 votes from Alaskans, a number that's more than five times larger than the 637-vote margin separating Sen. Sullivan and Peltola.
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