JUNEAU, Alaska — Republican Dan Sullivan won Alaska’s Senate seat in a hotly contested race, beating a first-term incumbent as voter disapproval of President Obama allowed the GOP to seize control of the Senate.
Sullivan, a Marine Corps reservist and assistant secretary of state under President George W. Bush, defeated Senator Mark Begich as part of a wave of Republican victories.
The Alaska contest was too close to call on Election Night, with Sullivan up by about 8,100 votes, but it became evident Tuesday when the state began counting about 20,000 absentee and questioned ballots that Begich could not overcome his opponent.
‘‘While we have challenges to address, the opportunities in Alaska and our country are limitless,’’ Sullivan said. ‘‘Today, we are going to begin the process of turning our country around.’’
Sullivan hit the ground running, exhibiting a fundraising prowess that rivaled and sometimes exceeded that of Begich.
A turning point, in the view of many observers, was an ad from Begich’s campaign shortly after the primary that painted Sullivan as soft on crime. It featured a man identified as a former Anchorage police officer standing outside the home where an elderly couple was beaten to death and a family member sexually abused in 2013. It ended with the man saying Sullivan should not be a senator.
The ad, which Sullivan responded to with one of his own, was pulled after a demand from an attorney for the victims’ family.