Washington - Veteran Alaskan Republican Senator Ted Stevens narrowly lost his bid for re-election, increasing the Democrats' majority in the US upper house, US media reported late Tuesday.

Stevens, 85, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, will be replaced by the mayor of Anchorage, Democrat Mark Begich, 46.

As Alaska's division of elections counted the last absentee ballots from the November 4 election, Begich was ahead by 3,724 votes, an insurmountable lead with only a few thousand absentee ballots left to be counted, reported Alaska's KIMO TV news.

During his 40-year congressional career, Stevens had been known for steering billions of dollars in federal funds to his state. But he faced an uphill re-election bid after his conviction last month on charges of hiding 250,000 dollars in gifts from an Alaska company.

Begich's victory brings the Democrats to within two seats of a 60-seat majority in the 100-member Senate, which would be enough to prevent the Republicans from holding a filibuster, a parliamentary tactic to delay legislation through endless debate.

Two razor-close Senate races remain to be decided.