GOP’s Sullivan wins Alaska Senate seat

Sullivan led Begich by about 8,100 votes on election night last week and held a comparable edge after election workers counted about 20,000 absentee, early and questioned ballots late Tuesday. Thousands more ballots remain to be counted, but the results indicate that Begich cannot 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's campaign planned to release a statement. A Begich spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday news reporters and observers affiliated with candidates or political parties watched as election workers opened ballots, reviewed those in which voters' qualifications were questioned and tallied votes in election centers in Juneau and other parts of the state.

Begich was in Washington, D.C., as Congress geared up to finish out this session. Earlier in the day, his spokesman, Max Croes, said Alaskans deserved to have their voices heard and votes counted.

Sullivan, a first-time candidate, attracted some star power to the state, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a tea party favorite, and 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney rallying support for Sullivan in the waning days of the hotly contested race.

Begich, born and raised in Alaska, cast Sullivan, who grew up in Ohio, as an outsider, and many of the early attacks by pro-Begich groups keyed into that theme.

Sullivan has roots in Alaska dating to the 1990s but was gone for nearly seven years for military service and work in Washington, D.C., including time as an assistant secretary of state. He returned to Alaska in 2009, when he was appointed attorney general by then-Gov. Sarah Palin.

He most recently served as Alaska's natural resources commissioner, a post he left in September 2013 to make his first run for elected office.

It was estimated that tens of millions of dollars were pumped into the state, with Republicans seeing Begich as vulnerable and Democrats trying to hold the seat he won in 2008. Voters were barraged by calls and ads, which many said they found off-putting.

A turning point, in the view of many observers, was an ad from Begich's campaign shortly after the primary that painted Sullivan as soft on crime

Sullivan emerged from a hard-fought three-way GOP primary to take on Begich, who had token opposition in the Democratic primary.

The Associated Press