Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert has conceded her Colorado House race, and the last uncalled U.S. Senate contest of the 2026 midterms is close to being decided in Alaska, as vote counting winds down nearly two weeks after Election Day.
The Associated Press called Colorado’s 4th Congressional District on Friday for Democrat Eileen Laubacher, a retired Navy rear admiral and first-time candidate. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola extended her lead over Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan after another batch of ballots was counted Saturday, though the race remains officially uncalled.
What happened in Colorado
Laubacher led for much of the count. As of Friday, just over 3,400 votes separated the two candidates, a margin outside Colorado’s automatic recount range, according to the Deseret News and Yahoo News. Neither outlet reported final percentages.
Boebert, a three-term incumbent, conceded in a video message on Friday. She said she called Laubacher to congratulate her and said “the people of our district are more important than party politics,” the Deseret News reported. Her campaign attorney, Scott Gessler, had earlier pointed to a large number of uncounted votes and said the campaign would look into the election process.
The result is notable because of the district’s history. Republicans carried the 4th District by more than 18 points in 2024, according to the AP report published by PBS News. Boebert moved to the district after narrowly surviving her first reelection campaign in a different part of the state.
Laubacher served more than 30 years in the Navy. She was a longtime Republican, then briefly unaffiliated, before becoming a Democrat to run in this race. She out-raised Boebert and campaigned on putting the district’s people ahead of party labels, according to the Deseret News.
Speaking about her party’s broader losses, Boebert said, “We collectively failed,” according to the AP.
Where the Alaska Senate race stands
In Alaska, Peltola had 49.9% of first-choice votes to Sullivan’s 46% after the state Division of Elections counted 4,290 more ballots on Saturday, Alaska Public Media reported. The AP estimates about 97% of the vote has been counted. Yahoo News, citing Saturday morning figures, reported Peltola’s lead at more than 10,000 votes.
Because Peltola is just under 50%, Alaska’s ranked-choice rules may come into play. If no candidate passes 50%, the last-place candidate is eliminated and those ballots move to voters’ next choices. That tabulation is scheduled for Nov. 18, after the deadline for overseas ballots arrives. State certification is set for Nov. 25, according to Alaska Public Media.
The two campaigns see the numbers differently. Peltola’s campaign said on social media that Sullivan has no mathematical path to victory. A Sullivan spokesman told The New York Times, “We’re still waiting for every ballot to be counted,” according to Yahoo News. Sullivan has not conceded.
The race has also drawn legal attention. A New York Times report alleged that Peltola’s team helped recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to draw votes from the incumbent; Peltola has denied knowing about any such effort. A Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification was dismissed by a federal judge, and the department is appealing. The U.S. attorney in Alaska and Gov. Mike Dunleavy have both said they are investigating, Alaska Public Media reported.
Why it matters
Democrats have already won 55 Senate seats in the midterms, their largest majority since the early years of the Obama administration, according to Yahoo News. A Peltola win would bring that number to 56; a Sullivan win would keep it at 55.
For more on how the new majority is organizing, see our report on the Van Hollen challenge to Schumer for Senate majority leader, and our earlier story on how Alaska voters elected Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins governor and kept ranked-choice voting.
What to watch next
- Nov. 18: Alaska’s overseas ballot deadline and any ranked-choice tabulation in the Senate and U.S. House races.
- Nov. 25: Alaska’s scheduled state certification.
- Whether the Boebert campaign follows through on looking into the Colorado count, and when Colorado certifies the result.
- The Justice Department’s appeal in the Alaska case, which is not expected to be decided before the new Congress is sworn in.
Upstormed News will follow the final counts and update this story as races are called.
Why it matters for families
Close races are a reminder that every ballot is counted, including mail and overseas ballots that can take days to arrive. Families with older children can use these results to talk about how ranked-choice voting works in Alaska, why some races take weeks to call, and how candidates concede and hand off power peacefully.
Read more: Democrats Meet in Denver to Plan Next Steps as Republicans Regroup After Midterms
Do you think races should be called faster, or is a careful count worth the wait?
Sources: PBS News (AP), “GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado loses U.S. House seat to Democrat Eileen Laubacher” (November 13, 2026); Deseret News, “Lauren Boebert loses Colorado House seat to Democrat” (November 13, 2026); Yahoo News, “Lauren Boebert loses to Democratic challenger in Colorado House race” (November 13, 2026); Alaska Public Media, “Peltola leads in U.S. Senate race, nearing 50% mark with almost all ballots counted” (November 14, 2026); Yahoo News, “Peltola Nears Alaska Senate Win, Dems Eye 56th Seat” (November 14, 2026)
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