Democrat Mary Peltola and incumbent Dan Sullivan lead in Alaska primary for US Senate
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
We are still awaiting the full election results from Alaska, where it appears Mary Peltola is leading for the Democrats and Dan S Sullivan is leading for the Republicans in the contest for US Senate.
Incumbent Sullivan is running for a third term while Peltola is fighting to flip the seat and aid Democrats in their quest to retake control of Congress. The Tuesday vote in the non-partisan primary will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
Peltola became the first Alaska Native and the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives when she won her bid for the state’s sole seat in 2022. Sullivan, on the other hand, faces the unique challenge of running against … Dan Sullivan. Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee. Though Republicans argued that the 70-year-old challenger Dan Sullivan had only filed his candidacy as an interference tactic against Senator Sullivan, the state supreme court ruled in June that was qualified to run for the seat and ordered election officials to place him on the primary ballot.
With 66% of votes counted, Peltola is leading with 46.8% of the vote with the incumbent Sullivan trailing closely behind with 44.4% of the vote. Dan J Sullivan is in third with 2.4% of the vote.
In other election news:
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Progressive Aisha Wahab is currently leading with 51% of the vote in the special runoff election to fill former representative Eric Swalwell’s seat in California. This comes after super Pacs tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) spent millions supporting Wahab’s closest competitor, Democrat Melissa Hernandez. According to the Associated Press, 62% of votes have been counted.
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In Wyoming, the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman is leading the Republican primary for US Senate. Hageman, a conservative lawyer with a passion for thwarting environmentalists, had previously beat Liz Cheney for the thinly populated western state’s solitary seat in the US House of Representatives.
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Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination and David Jolly the Democratic nomination for Florida governor. Donalds was endorsed by Donald Trump and will become Florida’s first Black governor if elected in November. Jolly is a former Republican who joined the Democratic party last year.
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Progressive Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for Florida’s open Senate seat, defeating the heavily favored Alex Vindman, a retired army lieutenant colonel and an impeachment witness against Trump during the president’s first term of office. If elected in November, Nixon would be the state’s first Black senator. Nixon will compete against Republican Ashley Moody in November for the Senate seat Marco Rubio won in 2022.
Key events
Republican senator Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola advance in Alaska Senate primary
With 80% of the vote counted, incumbent Republican senator Dan Sullivan and former Democratic congresswoman Mary Peltola will be moving forward from Alaska’s open primaries to the general election.
Peltola is currently leading with 48% of the vote with Sullivan following at 42.8%. The other Dan Sullivan – a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee who infuriated his namesake senator by running as a long-shot Republican candidate – is in a distant third place with 2.4% of the vote, followed by Democrat David Leslie and Republican Gerald Heikes, each with about 1.1%.
This election is yet another contest that could tilt the scale in the Democrats’ favor and help them retake control of Congress.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein has more:
Revealed: FCC chair Brendan Carr’s close ties to White House and rightwing media
Jeremy Barr
Brendan Carr was very firm.
“As a general rule, we don’t get into any discussions that happen with the White House or don’t happen with the White House,” Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), told Politico’s Dasha Burns in a recent interview. Burns had pressed Carr to explain how exactly he came to issue a highly unprecedented order forcing ABC to apply early to renew its eight local broadcast licenses just one day after the man who appointed Carr, Donald Trump, and his wife Melania called for ABC to be punished for a joke made by late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“Did you get a call or talk to the president either before or after you made that announcement?” Burns had asked. Later in the interview, Carr repeated his policy: “As a general matter, I don’t speak publicly about conversations with the White House, or whether they happen or don’t happen.”
While Carr may not be keen to detail his relations with the Trump administration, a trove of FCC documents – obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request and lawsuit filed by the advocacy group Democracy Forward, and provided to the Guardian – shed light on the close working relationship between Carr, his top staffers and members of Trump’s White House team.
Between 12 March 2025 and 11 February 2026, Carr attended at least eight meetings at the White House, according to the records, and had at least three scheduled calls with administration officials, including two conversations with chief of staff Susie Wiles. He also spoke by phone with administration officials such as controversial health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr.
In addition, the files provide insight into Carr’s media strategy, including communications with producers at Fox News, and make public previously undisclosed meetings he has held with media titans such as Fox Corp chief executive Lachlan Murdoch and Sinclair Broadcast Group chair David Smith.
Those unfamiliar with Alaska politics are likely raising an eyebrow at some repeated names.
No, we’re not talking about Dan S Sullivan and Dan J Sullivan, two Republicans with the same name running for US Senate – an issue that went to the state supreme court earlier this summer. We’re talking about the Begiches. Nick Begich III, a Republican, is currently leading the race to represent Alaska in the US House of Representatives for a second term while Tom Begich, a Democrat, is advancing to the general election for governor in November.
Further confusing matters, Nick Begich III won his seat from Mary Peltola, a Democrat who is leading the primary for US Senate alongside incumbent Republican senator Dan S Sullivan, who had defeated first-term Democratic senator Mark Begich for his seat in 2014.
The Begiches come from a long line of politicians that started with Nick Begich Sr, a Democrat elected to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives in 1970. His sons are Tom Begich and Mark Begich. Their nephew – and Nick Begich Sr’s grandson – is Nick Begich III.
Two Democrats are currently leading the all-party primary for Alaska governor.
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich will advance to the general election for the seat in November, with Kreiss-Tomkins, a state representative, receiving 21.7% of the vote so far and Begich, a former state senator, receiving 20.1%.
The two Democrats are trailed by three Republicans. Business owner Bernadette Wilson has 10.5% of the vote so far, followed by former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson with 8.4% of the vote and former state attorney general Treg Taylor with 7.5%.
In other primary news, Republican congressman Nick Begich III is leading the race to represent Alaska in the US House of Representatives for a second term.
Like the US Senate primary in Alaska, this election is a non-partisan primary that will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
Begich, who narrowly defeated Democrat Mary Peltola, the current frontrunner in the senate primary in Alaska, for his current seat in the House of Representatives, has so far received 46.2% of the votes cast in Tuesday’s race. He is followed by independent Bill Hill with 31.1% of the vote.
Matt Schultz, a Democrat, is coming in third with 8.1% of the vote, with Democrat Eric Hafner coming in fourth with 3.8%. John Williams, another Democrat, currently has 2.5% of the vote.
According to the Associated Press, 77% of the vote has been counted.
Who is Natalie Harp? Trump’s closest and most devoted aide is in the spotlight
David Smith
Wearing shoulder-length blonde hair, gold earrings and a red dress, cancer survivor Natalie Harp introduced herself to the 2020 Republican national convention as “a formerly forgotten American from California” and compared Donald Trump with George Bailey, the everyman hero played by James Stewart in the classic film It’s a Wonderful Life.
“George Bailey’s father was right,” smiled Harp, her voice echoing in the Andrew W Mellon auditorium in pandemic-hit Washington. “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away. Mr President, that makes you the richest man in the world.”
Six years later, Harp is now one of Trump’s closest and most devoted aides. Her official job title is special assistant to the president and executive assistant to the president on an annual salary of $150,000.
Her unofficial job title is the “human printer” for supplying him with print-outs of information. And for years she has only been a minor character in the Trump Cinematic Universe.
But all that changed this week when Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator and possible 2028 presidential contender, accused Trump in a campaign speech of wanting to “build his ballroom and travel with Natalie” instead of doing his job.
In case you missed it: NBC News reported yesterday that the US Department of Justice has issued subpoenas into whether Dan J Sullivan entered the Alaska primary for US Senate to confuse voters seeking to vote for incumbent Republican senator Dan S Sullivan.
Citing an unnamed law enforcement official, NBC News reports that the subpoenas are part of a federal investigation.
The justice department under Donald Trump has opened a number of investigations into his political adversaries. Democrats are hoping to flip the seat with Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, in their bid to retake control of Congress.
Congratulations have been pouring in this morning for Angie Nixon, the progressive who won the primary for US Senate in Florida in a major upset to the Democratic establishment.
“Congratulations @AngieNixon,” congresswoman Ilhan Omar posted on X. “We are so proud of you and can’t wait for you to be the next Senator of Florida. Democrats need to unite and send a message.”
“Democratic socialist state representative Angie Nixon, outspent more than 16 to 1, pulled off a HUGE upset to win the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Florida,” senator Bernie Sanders posted on X. “Congratulations Angie!”
“In the Florida legislature, Angie Nixon has led the fight to lower costs for families and take on the rigged system. Now, she’s ready to take that fight to the US Senate,” Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, posted on X. “Congratulations, Angie! Onward to November.”
With 73% of the votes counted in Alaska, it appears that the November election for US Senate will include a showdown between Mary Peltola, former Democratic congresswoman, and incumbent Dan S Sullivan, a Republican.
“Tonight shows Alaskans are fired up and ready for an independent voice in the Senate who will fix the rigged system, lower costs, and put Alaska first,” Peltola posted on X. “We’re ready to win this thing on November 3rd.”
Peltola currently leads with 47.8% of the vote, with Senator Sullivan coming in with 44%. Next is the other Dan Sullivan, also a Republican, with 2.5% of the vote and then Democrat David Leslie with 1.1%. The non-partisan primary will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
The Guardian’s Sam Levin and Richard Luscombe have more on Angie Nixon and her surprise primary win in Florida for US Senate.
Nixon, a state representative and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, beat former army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman, despite having significantly less funding going into the primary – $975,000 to Vindman’s $16.3m at the end of July, according to Florida Politics.
Democrats have their sights set on upsetting Republican Ashley Moody in the US Senate general election. Moody, picked by DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio when he became secretary of state last year, won what was almost a token primary election to run in November to serve the remaining two years of Rubio’s term.
Nixon, who was born in Jacksonville, has aggressively opposed DeSantis’s policies, including with a sit-in at the governor’s office this spring to protest Republican redistricting, the Miami Herald reported. That demonstration resulted in her facing misdemeanor charges of trespassing and resisting, which she is fighting in court.
The Guardian’s Chris Stein has more on the Alaska primary:
Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee living in the town of Petersburg in south-eastern Alaska, who is running as a Republican for the US Senate. Dan S Sullivan is a Republican US senator, who has represented Alaska since 2015.
Both candidates will appear on the ballot, one name after the other, when Alaskans vote in primary elections this week – a complicated quirk of the contest that has drawn howls from Republicans.
But the incumbent senator’s real threat, Alaska politics watchers say, is Mary Peltola, a Democrat who managed to twice win election to the state’s seat in the US House of Representatives, and is now vying to beat him in November’s midterm elections in the US Senate.
Democrat Mary Peltola and incumbent Dan Sullivan lead in Alaska primary for US Senate
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.
We are still awaiting the full election results from Alaska, where it appears Mary Peltola is leading for the Democrats and Dan S Sullivan is leading for the Republicans in the contest for US Senate.
Incumbent Sullivan is running for a third term while Peltola is fighting to flip the seat and aid Democrats in their quest to retake control of Congress. The Tuesday vote in the non-partisan primary will see four candidates advance to the general election for the seat in November.
Peltola became the first Alaska Native and the first woman to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives when she won her bid for the state’s sole seat in 2022. Sullivan, on the other hand, faces the unique challenge of running against … Dan Sullivan. Dan J Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher and US Forest Service employee. Though Republicans argued that the 70-year-old challenger Dan Sullivan had only filed his candidacy as an interference tactic against Senator Sullivan, the state supreme court ruled in June that was qualified to run for the seat and ordered election officials to place him on the primary ballot.
With 66% of votes counted, Peltola is leading with 46.8% of the vote with the incumbent Sullivan trailing closely behind with 44.4% of the vote. Dan J Sullivan is in third with 2.4% of the vote.
In other election news:
-
Progressive Aisha Wahab is currently leading with 51% of the vote in the special runoff election to fill former representative Eric Swalwell’s seat in California. This comes after super Pacs tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) spent millions supporting Wahab’s closest competitor, Democrat Melissa Hernandez. According to the Associated Press, 62% of votes have been counted.
-
In Wyoming, the Trump-backed Harriet Hageman is leading the Republican primary for US Senate. Hageman, a conservative lawyer with a passion for thwarting environmentalists, had previously beat Liz Cheney for the thinly populated western state’s solitary seat in the US House of Representatives.
-
Byron Donalds won the Republican nomination and David Jolly the Democratic nomination for Florida governor. Donalds was endorsed by Donald Trump and will become Florida’s first Black governor if elected in November. Jolly is a former Republican who joined the Democratic party last year.
-
Progressive Angie Nixon won the Democratic nomination for Florida’s open Senate seat, defeating the heavily favored Alex Vindman, a retired army lieutenant colonel and an impeachment witness against Trump during the president’s first term of office. If elected in November, Nixon would be the state’s first Black senator. Nixon will compete against Republican Ashley Moody in November for the Senate seat Marco Rubio won in 2022.
