Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska has defeated incumbent Democrat Mark Begich in one of the country’s last outstanding Senate races. According to the New York Times, Sullivan has a nearly 8,000-vote lead, winning 49 percent of the vote to Begich’s 46 percent.
The race between Begich and Sullivan had been too close to call in Alaska, where ballot results from the far-flung parts of the state can often take days and weeks to be counted.
Begich had won a close race in 2008 to defeat longtime GOP incumbent Ted Stevens, who had just days before been convicted of failing to disclose gifts. Sullivan’s victory gives Republicans an 8-seat advantage in the Senate starting in January.
The remaining Senate race left undecided is in Louisiana, where Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy are facing each other in a runoff on December 6. Cassidy leads in the polls to unseat Landrieu, a three-termer.