It’s Official: Dan Sullivan Wins Senate Race In Alaska

On Election Night incumbent Senator Mark Begich had 102,054 votes with 45.3% of the votes cast by Alaskans.  His challenger, Dan Sullivan, had secured 49% of the votes for a total of 110,203.

Begich, facing “daunting math” to overcome the deficit refused to concede the race.  Even the Alaska Public Radio Network declared his decision to stay in the race was based on an “implausible hypothetical resurgence.”

I was checking the Politico website just for kicks and giggles around 3:00 AM and noticed they had not yet changed the Alaska map to red signifying a “leans Republican” status (see screen capture).  I started a web search and violá, what did I find, but an Associated Press newswire at ABC News bearing the headline:  “Republican Dan Sullivan Wins Senate Race in Alaska”.  Welcome aboard Senator-elect Sullivan.

The Alaska seat was initially considered key to the Republicans' hopes of taking control of the US Senate, but that point became moot by the end of the evening when the GOP sweep snagged 52 seats for a majority in that chamber.  Add Alaska to that tally and it’s now 53.  After Louisiana’s December 6th runoff, the total will be 54 seats. 

Unless there's a mini-Chicago that went undiscovered by man until brave Sir Begich discovered it on an expedition, he has clearly lost this.
— AoSHQ Decision Desk (@AoSHQDD) November 12, 2014

Just about everyone has said @DanSullivan2014 has won in #Alaska. Meanwhile, Mark Begich is still waiting on the game-changing husky vote.
— Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) November 13, 2014

UPDATE:  Welcome iOTWReport readers.  Big hugs to Cardigan for linking to this post.