Nick Begich III now has 49% of first-place votes to U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s 46%, while Ballot Measure 2 is passing by a margin of 1 percentage point.

Democrats were projected to win at least 208 House seats and Republicans 215 seats as of Friday. A party needs 218 seats in order to have the majority.

Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, told NBC News earlier that it will be “a significant ... brought out the leaders of the ...