Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins shakes hands with a supporter at an election night party Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 at the Broken Blender in downtown Anchorage. (Photo by Loren Holmes/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins shakes hands with a supporter at an election night party Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026 at the Broken Blender in downtown Anchorage. (Photo by Loren Holmes/Alaska Beacon)
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Republican U.S. House Rep. Nick Begich III came closer to clinching victory in Alaska’s general election as the Alaska Division of Elections added almost 25,000 ballots to the state tally on Tuesday night.
With 245,470 first-choice ballots counted, Peltola now leads incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan by 4,250 first-choice votes, or 48.8% to 47.1%. That’s an increase of more than 1,600 votes from Monday.
If the race goes to a ranked choice runoff between Peltola and Sullivan preliminary, partial data published by the Division of Elections and analyzed by the Beacon shows Peltola winning that matchup as well.GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.SUBSCRIBE
The Associated Press estimates about 84% of all ballots have been counted. A separate, independent estimate posted on Twitter found at least 37,000 votes remaining to be added to the statewide tally.
In the governor’s race, Kreiss-Tomkins has 49.7% of the first-choice votes, ahead of three Republican competitors. In the U.S. House race, Begich has 48.8% of the first-choice votes, leading an independent challenger by a significant margin.
In Alaska general election races, voters rank up to four candidates in order of preference. If a candidate in a particular race has more than 50% of the first-choice votes, they win.
If no candidate reaches that threshold, the candidate with the fewest first-choice votes is eliminated, and votes for them are transferred to their voters’ second choices.
The eliminations and redistributions continue until only two candidates are left. The person with the most votes wins.
Friday is the deadline for absentee ballots mailed from within the United States to arrive and be counted. Division officials have said to expect a significant update then. Additional updates are possible Wednesday and Thursday.
Preliminary ranked choice data indicates Senate lead won’t change
The Alaska Division of Elections is scheduled to perform its official ranked choice tabulation on Nov. 18, after the deadline for absentee ballots to arrive and still be counted.
In preliminary, partial ranked choice tabulations by the Alaska Beacon using data published by the division on Tuesday, Sen. Sullivan gains 3,066 redistributed votes and Peltola gains 2,160, a net gain of 906 for Sen. Sullivan but not enough to overcome Peltola’s lead in first-choice votes.
The ranking data does not yet include 9,909 ballots from rural Alaska precincts where ballots are initially hand-counted.
Two-thirds of the first-choice votes on those ballots went to Peltola, according to summary data published separately by the division, indicating that even after the ranked choice tabulation, Peltola will lead.
In addition, further ballot counting may help Peltola’s margin. The Democratic candidate has repeatedly gained more first-choice votes than Sullivan in ballots counted after Election Day; on Monday, she led Sullivan by 2,517 votes out of 219,342 cast, and that was an improvement over her 636-vote lead at the end of Election Day.
Governor and US House leaders appear unlikely to change either
In the governor’s race, Kreiss-Tomkins’ closest competitor is Republican candidate Bernadette Wilson, with 28.7% of the first-choice votes, followed by Republican Dave Bronson with 13.9% and Republican Treg Taylor with 7.3%.
Preliminary, partial ranked choice tabulations by the Beacon show that if Kreiss-Tomkins fails to top the 50% threshold by Nov. 18, he will easily receive the needed votes once the ranked choice runoff is used.
For the U.S. House race, Begich has lost a small bit of first-choice vote share since Election Day, when he was almost exactly at the 50% threshold. That indicates a ranked choice runoff will be needed, but his closest challenger, independent Bill Hill, has 40.9% of first-choice votes. Democratic spoiler candidate Eric Hafner, a man imprisoned in New York state for threatening federal officials, has 7.5% of the first choice votes. Libertarian Jim McDermott has 2.7%.
Hill — the candidate endorsed by the Alaska Democratic Party — ran a campaign that attempted to label Hafner a sham candidate and not a real Democrat. Ranked choice tabulations show Hill winning less than half of the second-choice votes from Hafner supporters.
A voter casts their ballot on the first day of early in person voting in Juneau on Oct. 19, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The Alaska Division of Elections does not have to produce a report of rejected absentee voters in the midterm elections, a state court ruled Wednesday afternoon on a lawsuit filed by the campaign of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola.
The lawsuit was filed by the campaign group Alaskans for Mary against the division on Friday, seeking to make public the names of voters whose absentee ballots have been rejected and the reasons for their rejection before the results are certified on Nov. 25.
In court filings, the group said they sought the list of voters “to safeguard an accurate ballot count and ensure that Peltola’s supporters are not unlawfully disenfranchised.”
But in court, attorneys with the Alaska Department of Law arguing on behalf of the division said ballot counting is ongoing and the requested records at this stage are preliminary, and do not qualify as public records. They argued that the division could not feasibly produce the information on short notice or maintain voter confidentiality.
The state asked the court to reject the campaign’s request that the division make a new report of names of voters during ballot counting, and Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews agreed.
“Given that the DOE is currently busy processing ballots from the 2026 general election, it is understandable that the division simply lacks the capacity to generate the report,” Matthews wrote in the ruling.
“Even if the request were otherwise considered reasonable outside the peak election time of year, it is simply not reasonable or required now,” he wrote. He said the information did not qualify as a public record and was not required to be disclosed.
Peltola’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the ruling or whether it planned to appeal.
The division published a new batch of preliminary election results Wednesday night — adding 5,618 ballots to the count. Peltola inched ahead in the lead with 48.73% of the vote, ahead of Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan with 47.13%.
Absentee ballot review
Absentee ballots are processed at one of five regional elections offices where staff log them into a state database and make an initial determination about whether to accept or reject a ballot, based on verification requirements. Mailed absentee ballots must be received within 10 days of election day, or within 15 days if mailed from overseas.
Absentee ballots are then reviewed again by absentee ballot review boards at each of the regional offices staffed by bipartisan teams of two, who verify voter eligibility and if the ballot was cast properly. Campaigns may have observers present with each of the review boards and can challenge the boards’ decision to accept or reject a ballot. After the review board process, the final determination on ballots is made by the State Review Board.
The Peltola campaign had sought a copy of the observers’ “details report,” but the state argued that information is preliminary until a final determination is made, according to court filings. The state said those reports are also bound by confidentiality requirements, and do not qualify as public records under law. The court agreed.
The state said the determination on whether a ballot is rejected may change up until election results are certified on Nov. 25, after which the division is required to notify the voter if their ballot has been rejected.
The division also publishes a list of how many absentee ballots were rejected and the reason for rejection, but that list is typically released weeks after the results are certified.
In public, she’s brushing off criticism. After all, plenty of viewers are tuning in anyway.
In private, she’s reportedly reeling from the backlash — and feels that it’s unfair.
Sarah Paulson, Glenn Close, Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, and Niecy Nash-Betts attend Hulu’s “All’s Fair” Season 2 New York Premiere on November 02, 2026. (Photo Credit: Theo Wargo/WireImage)
Are critics of ‘All’s Fair’ not being fair?
All’s Fair Season 2 has received an appropriately negative reception.
In public, Kim has seemed to brush off the criticism.
After all, the first season was deeply awful, too — racking up a 0% Rotten Tomatoes score when it premiered in 2025.
(That is not how Kim phrases her apparent dismissal of critics, but it’s true.)
During a recent guest spot on The View, Kim was quick to point out that All’s Fair is a success — gushing over Ryan Murphy and her extremely talented co-stars.
Kim appeared on the daytime talk series alongside the extremely talented Niecy Nash-Betts and Naomi Watts, both of whom are also actors on All’s Fair.
Season 2’s premiere amassed 3.2 million views in just three days, which is a great reminder that hate-watching is meaningless when streamers are gauging interest.
Kim received praise, including from her very famous costars, and she credited them with teaching her so much about acting.
(Our thoughts continue to go out to all talented actors trapped within the Ryan Murphy Cinematic Universe, especially Sarah Paulson.)
Does Kim really not care about the harsh, justified criticism of the show?
Patrick Freyne: Kim Kardashian is fast asleep in All’s Fair with eyeballs painted on her eyelids, I think
According to a report from Star, Kim is putting on a brave face in public.
“She’s absolutely mortified,” claims an apparent inside source.
The insider alleges that Kim feels “unfairly” singled out by critics.
On the one hand, no one in their right mind would single out a talent like Glenn Close or Naomi Watts when identifying specific flaws in the show.
At the same time, however, is it possible that Kim is just one very conspicuous scapegoat in a bad series?
Is Kim responsible for the writing, the tone, and the cursed wardrobe and styling choices on the series?
There’s no question that she has some influence — but she cannot be to blame for every issue.
This is, after all, a Ryan Murphy production. It’s getting a lot of views but it’s very bad — like so many of his projects.
He doesn’t need Kim’s presence to do that. And maybe pointing the finger solely at Kim is unfair.
We have to note that the widespread criticism has arguably driven people to watch the Hulu series. People want to see for themselves if a show can actually be this bad.
Val Chmerkovskiy’s biggest fan isn’t sidestepping this elimination.
After the season 35 Dancing With the Stars pro and partner Jenna Dewan were knocked out during the Nov. 10 episode, his and wife… E! Online (US) – Top Stories
Jensen Huang has resigned as CEO of Nvidia, the tech giant’s board of directors announced on Thursday, November 12.
The co-founder’s exit follows weeks of scandal over his personal life, which reportedly included several affairs, one of them with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy, according to Variety.
Huang stepped down following a meeting of Nvidia’s board, and the company released a statement confirming his resignation shortly afterward.
Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, gives a keynote address at the NVIDIA Berlin GPU Technology Conference (GTC) on October 21, 2026 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim chief executive while Nvidia searches for a permanent replacement.
The departure brings an abrupt end to a 33-year run at the top of the company Huang helped build into one of the most valuable businesses in the world.
It also caps a stretch that hit Nvidia hard on Wall Street. The saga reportedly sent the company’s stock price tumbling to eight-month lows, driven by national security concerns tied to the alleged spy.
The affair at the center of the story has been described as extramarital, and it may not have been the only one.
Reports of a second affair have also surfaced in recent weeks, adding to the pressure on the billionaire executive as the scandal grew.
The woman linked to Huang has been characterized in some reports as a Chinese government spy.
Sources claim she was working on behalf of the Chinese government, a detail that quickly raised alarms given Nvidia’s place in the chip industry.
Still, the national security angle is what turned a personal scandal into a corporate crisis. Nvidia is one of the most important chip makers on the planet, and investors clearly did not like what they were hearing.
Huang’s resignation now leaves the company’s future direction in the hands of the board and Kress, at least for the time being.
For a founder who spent more than three decades as the face of Nvidia, it’s a stunning way to go out. Some observers say the alleged affairs now cast a long shadow over his legacy at the company.
Huang was widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in tech, overseeing Nvidia’s rise into a dominant force in the industry.
Now the company is moving on without him, and the board’s hunt for a permanent CEO is officially underway.
Students begin their first day of school at the Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy program at Harborview Elementary School in Juneau on Aug. 15, 2025 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
After a nearly 18-month investigation, a joint legislative task force on education funding seeks not only to boost state spending on schools but to change the way Alaska allocates funding to support its troubled K-12 education system.
Among the key recommendations in the draft report released Monday is the finding that annual education spending should be adjusted with inflation, and that funding for school facilities maintenance and rising energy costs should be separate from dollars intended for student instruction.
The task force also recommends that the question of how much the state should spend on education should be examined by a future independent “adequacy study” to see whether Alaska delivers adequate funding to schools.
The Legislature’s task force was launched in July 2025 in the wake of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s partial veto of an increase to per-student funding, which lawmakers overrode in a special session later that summer. Legislators agreed the task force would further examine funding for schools and ways to address rising costs of utilities, maintenance, transportation and insurance, as well as funding levels and accountability provisions.
The joint task force includes co-chairs Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, and Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Dillingham; Sens. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, and Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau; and Reps. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, and Andi Story, D-Juneau.
The task force held nine public meetings, and members made 19 school visits — in districts including the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Nenana, Kenai Peninsula, Juneau and Lower Kuskokwim.
The task force released a nine page draft report of short, mid and long-term recommendations and will hear public comment in-person and call-in on Thursday and written comments until Dec. 8.
The draft report references previous studies, expert recommendations and bills considered, as well as input from educators, district leaders and school visits and underscores where the incoming Legislature should take action, Tobin said.
“We really relied on all of those folks to give us quality information that we compiled into this document, and these recommendations don’t come from the task force as much as they come from Alaskans,” she said.
“This is what our community is telling us needs to happen, and has told us this needs to happen for quite a while, and now is the time for us to actually act on these suggestions,” she said.
Ruffridge, a Soldotna Republican, echoed the sentiment and the call for public input on the task force’s recommendations. “This is really the opportunity to hear from people statewide of what they consider to be some issues that they would like to see addressed,” he said.
How much the state should spend on education has been the focal point of ongoing political and financial debates among the Legislature and with the Dunleavy administration for years. The task force recommended an adequacy study examining the state’s funding formula.
Tobin said other states like Wyoming, Maryland and Massachusetts conduct regular adequacy studies, and an independent analysis is needed of Alaska’s complex education funding formula. The study would examine per student funding, known as the base student allocation, or BSA, and the multipliers added for factors like school size, special education services and correspondence schools, among others.
“We knew if we wanted to take the politics out of the BSA, we needed this independent analysis,” Tobin said.
Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, speaks at a Senate press conference on Feb. 4, 2025 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Ruffridge said he hopes the adequacy study will take a close look at the state’s funding formula and “whether or not the pieces of the foundation formula are actually built to fund the things that people want.”
Some of the areas Ruffridge said he’s heard about from constituents are smaller class sizes, access to extracurriculars like music and sports, and well-maintained buildings, “but our formula doesn’t really take that into account at all,” he said.
“I would really like to see study dollars go towards really analyzing the formula in ways that it could be changed to more comprehensively cover what it is that goes into offering you know a well rounded education system,” he said.
Tobin and Himschoot submitted a request for an estimated $500,000 to contract researchers to conduct the study, and encouraged a partnership with the University of Alaska’s Institute for Social and Economic Research, according to a letter to the Legislative Audit and Budget Committee. Lawmakers had approved $400,000 for such a study this year, but Dunleavy vetoed it.
“We would have hoped that we would have been part way through that process at this point,” said Tobin. “Unfortunately, once again, Mike Dunleavy has stymied that input, has stymied that science-based approach to analyzing our school formula, and that is really at the detriment of our public education system, because we’re going through another year at the very least of potentially not having adequately funded education because we don’t have the information we need to make informed policy decisions in those legislative roles.”
Short term recommendations
In the short-term, the task force recommended separate state dollars for funding school operations, facilities maintenance and repairs outside the pool of funds meant for instruction.
It noted the state’s funding for capital projects has eligibility rules that excludes routine maintenance and operations and so a separate funding stream for school facilities would enable more funds dedicated to educating students.
The Aniak Jr. Sr. High School is seen on Jan. 21, 2025. The Kuspuk School District evacuated around 50 students from pre-K to 12th grade, plus administrative offices, as the roof of the gymnasium of the Aniak Jr. Sr. High School was heard audibly cracking and breaking apart, due to a shifting foundation. The district is now planning for a controlled demolition to prevent total collapse of the building. (Photo courtesy of the Kuspuk School District)
Alaska has a major school maintenance backlog, estimated at $535 million in needed repairs, the report noted, and so the task force recommended the Legislature re-evaluate the regulatory process for how those repairs are funded. “Inaction will only increase the eventual costs of repair or replacement and continue to put children at risk,” it wrote.
Ruffridge called the current school maintenance system “appalling.”
“I’ve never seen such a difficult scenario that faces, especially school districts with not a lot of staff or personnel, and the hundreds of pages of documentation that have to be produced, really for very low likelihood of getting any dollars, and sometimes (they) wait decades to have any sort of action taken on pretty significant maintenance needs,” he said. He said he thinks there will be the political appetite in the next Legislature to address those funding needs.
Members also recommended the state fund rising energy costs for school districts. Last year, lawmakers approved a bill to reimburse districts’ energy costs based on a three-year average, but it requires future Legislatures to fund the program, which the task force recommended.
“The process that we had created to deal with major maintenance and capital improvements has not been working. There needs to be a different approach that provides stable and consistent funding for every school across the state to ensure that that building is safe, it is warm, it’s well lit, and that it has the right technology in its facility,” Tobin said. “To ensure our young people are learning, and have tools and the skills they need to become future workers in our labor force.”
More broadly, members recommended several changes in the legislative budgeting process.
The task force recommended the base student allocation be adjusted with inflation each year, similar to how the state calculates an adjusted base budget for other state agencies in order to maintain services at a status quo level. “If the Base Student Allocation remains the same from year to year but the cost of delivering education increases, then the BSA is no longer sufficient to provide an adequate education,” it wrote.
Additionally, the task force recommended the Legislature appropriate education funding earlier in the year, rather than in June or July, after school district budgets are finalized and layoff notices sent out. “This instability leads to unnecessary layoffs, delayed hiring, and loss of talented educators,” the report said.
Instead of budgets based on annual student counts, the task force recommended state funding be based on a three-year average of student counts to allow more stable, predictable funding. The lawmakers recommended the Legislature adopt a bill to that effect similar to legislation introduced by Story, a Juneau Democrat and member of the task force, last year which passed the House but failed to advance in the Senate.
While Alaska law mandates the Legislature “establish and maintain” a public education system for all Alaskan students, members of the task force recommended an established definition of “adequate education.” That’s to ensure funding meets a standard so that all students have access to educational opportunities, qualified teachers with training and support, a safe learning environment, and well-maintained facilities, among others.
Tobin said creating that definition in statute will help the Legislature make its budget decisions.
Midterm recommendations
In the midterm, the task force recommended reevaluating the funding formula for transportation, to include accommodations for fluctuations in students with a hold-harmless provision.
It recommended updating the funding formula for residential boarding schools, which has not changed since 2014, and updating the cap for school districts’ contribution to charter schools to more accurately reflect costs.
For homeschool programs, known as correspondence programs, the task force recommended a review of existing statutes to ensure those students are being provided an adequate education, noting currently the statutes “allow broad exemptions from statewide content standards, proficiency assessments, and fiscal audits.”
Currently, state law allows homeschool parents and guardians to opt their student out of state testing. Last year, just 14.6% of homeschool students participated in the state’s standard assessment for math, while 80% of students in district schools participated, according to the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development.
The task force also called for districts to look into methods for incorporating homeschool programs into district neighborhood schools because they say post-pandemic research shows that “in-person learning significantly outperforms online and distance learning.”
In order to boost teacher recruitment and retention, particularly to address high turnover in rural districts, members of the task force said they support the recommendations of a 2023 Teacher Retention and Recruitment survey of over 4,000 educators.
Tobin said the task force’s final report will include more detailed recommendations for supporting teachers, including reviving a public pension system, increasing competitive pay and boosting professional development opportunities.
Long-term recommendations
Point Higgins Elementary School was one of the two elementary schools closed this year in Ketchikan due to budget cuts. Staff and volunteers helped move out the school in early June 2026. (Photo by Niki Suomala)
Many Alaska school districts faced steep budget shortfalls this year, resulting in the closure of 12 schools. Superintendents named the rising cost of health insurance as a major cost driver for districts. The task force recommended continuing to examine ways to reduce healthcare costs, including pooling insured workers and “exploring a publicly funded health insurance program.”
Other long-term recommendations include increasing the number of career and technical education instructors, creating a statewide absentee accounting system and creating incentives for districts to standardize equipment and create shared services agreements with regional partners.
It also recommended identifying dedicated funding with local partners to enhance community and culture-based education opportunities.
Tobin said the task force will continue to incorporate input from public comments in-person and by phone on Thursday, and those submitted in writing, into the final recommendations which will be delivered on the first day of the 35th Legislative session on Jan. 19.
“We wanted it to be a representative process, a democratic process…feedback is critical to the next steps forward,” she said. “At the end, the product is going to be one that we can all say, ‘Here’s what we do collectively believe is going to help improve education.’”
Val Chmerkovskiy’s biggest fan isn’t sidestepping this elimination.
