Republican Dan Sullivan won Alaska's U.S. Senate seat in a hotly contested race, beating a first-term incumbent as voter disapproval of President Barack Obama swept Democrats out of office and allowed the GOP to seize control of the Senate. But Democratic Sen. Mark Begich is refusing to concede the race, insisting that there's a chance he could prevail after all the remaining absentee ballots are counted. 'Sen. Begich believes every vote deserves to be counted in this election,' campaign manager Susanne Fleek-Green told the Associated Press. 'There are tens of thousands of outstanding votes and Sen. Begich has heard from rural Alaskans that their votes deserve to be counted and their voices deserve to be heard. He will honor those requests.'
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Dan Sullivan has been declared the winner in Alaska's Nov. 4 US Senate election
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Incumbent Mark Begich lost the race after hotly contested counting of absentee and provisional ballots
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The Democrat still refuses to admit defeat
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Sullivan will join a newly minted GOP majority in the Senate with Republicans holding at least 53 of 100 seats
FINALLY: Republican Senator-elect @placeholder (left) won his election after a week of absentee-ballot counting and lots of posturing from both candidates