Author: alaskaadmin

Over a month ago, Shelley Cotton cast the first vote in Alaska’s statewide primary election, downloading a blank ballot and sending it quickly by mail from Texas to Alaska. 

Since then, more than 31,000 other Alaskans have cast their ballots, and starting at 7 a.m. Tuesday, tens of thousands more residents will vote in an election that will start to decide who Alaska’s next governor will be.

What’s on the ballot? 

Seventeen people are vying to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run this year. In that race and all others on the ballot, voters will pick one candidate. The top four vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to November.

There are 16 candidates for U.S. Senate, including Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. 

There are 15 candidates for U.S. House, including Republican incumbent Nick Begich III, independent challenger Bill Hill, and Democratic challenger Matt Schultz, who suspended his campaign last month and decided to back Hill.

[Voter Guide: 2026 Voter Guide Voter Guide: The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.]

As in the governor’s race, voters pick one candidate for each of those races, and the top four candidates advance to November.

There are 40 state House races and 10 state Senate races; each part of the state has one House race, and only half of the state has a state Senate race.

If there are four or fewer candidates for one or both of the legislative races, all candidates advance to November. Only five of the 50 legislative races have more than four candidates. 

On the back of the ballot, there’s also an up or down vote on Ballot Measure 1, which would reimpose limits on how much money that people can donate to political candidates. 

Ballot Measure 2, which has been the subject of extensive advertising, isn’t until November.

Where do I vote and what do I need to vote?

You can find your polling place by entering your information here. Bring a governmental ID; it doesn’t have to have your photo. If you don’t have an ID, bring a piece of mail with your name and address. 

If you can’t make it to your polling place on election day, you can go to another polling place and vote there, but you’ll be asked to provide additional identity information because that polling place won’t have a way to immediately check that you’re registered to vote.

What do I do if I want to vote by mail?

It’s too late to request a blank ballot. If you already have your blank ballot and need to return it, DO NOT just drop it into a mailbox. Your ballot must be postmarked by election day, and in Alaska, it may take a day or more for a ballot to be postmarked after it is mailed. Instead, go into a post office with your sealed ballot and ask the postal clerk to postmark it by hand. 

If you’re near a polling place, you can also drop your sealed ballot in the box there. 

How many people have already voted?

As of noon Monday, according to statistics published by the Division of Elections, almost 22,000 Alaskans had already voted early, in person at 10 polling stations in the Railbelt, Juneau and Nome. Another 9,000 voters had cast absentee ballots. 

That’s less than 5% of all eligible voters.

In early voting, a voter’s ID is checked when they cast their ballot, guaranteeing that the vote is counted. In absentee voting, the voter’s ID is checked later, and their ballot could be disqualified if elections officials aren’t able to verify that it was cast by an eligible voter. 

In 2020, 2022 and 2024, absentee ballots leaned Democratic, with election day results favoring Republicans and then leaning away from Republican candidates as additional votes were counted. 

This year, through Sunday, the division had received absentee ballots from 2,702 registered Republicans, 1,996 registered Democrats, and 4,467 undeclared and nonpartisan voters. 

Importantly, of the 22,838 blank absentee ballots requested by Alaska voters, only 9,232 had been returned by Sunday, indicating many more filled-out ballots could still be in the mail.

When do we know the results?

The Division of Elections has said the first partial, preliminary results will be available on its website about 9 p.m. Tuesday night. As more votes are counted, those results will be updated until early Wednesday morning, when elections officials take a break and go to sleep.

More counting may be needed on Wednesday or later this week to complete the election day tally.

Mailed ballots will be counted through Aug. 28, with results updated regularly through then. 

Any candidate who finishes in the final four can withdraw until Aug. 31. 

Governor and lieutenant governor run on a single ticket, and a governor can change out his or her lieutenant governor candidate until then as well.

Entering election day, six big questions remain unknowns.

Who will be the finalists in the governor’s race?

Pre-election polling indicated Democratic candidate Tom Begich was likely to finish first among the 17 candidates for governor. Because there are only two Democratic candidates, fellow Democratic candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins also appeared likely to finish in the top four.

What was less clear was which of the 12 Republican candidates would finish in the top four, and whether independent former Gov. Bill Walker would also make the cutoff. 

Will there be voting problems in rural Alaska?

In previous years, the Division of Elections has struggled to find election workers in rural towns and villages across Alaska. On Monday, observers tracking the division said the polling station in the North Slope community of Point Lay would open late because workers would not arrive until the morning flight.

In addition, prior elections saw elections officials reject an unusually large number of absentee ballots cast in rural Alaska. It isn’t yet clear whether that trend will continue this year.

On Saturday, the early voting station in Nome failed to open on time, an issue that helped prompt the Alaska Federation of Natives — in conjunction with other groups — to issue a statement saying they were deeply concerned by potential staffing issues and any effects on rural voters.

How enthusiastic are Democratic voters this year?

In other states that have already held their primary elections, Democratic voters turned out in large numbers, motivated by the desire to vote for candidates who oppose Republican President Donald Trump.

If the number of votes cast for statewide Democratic candidates exceeds or approaches the number of votes cast for statewide Republican candidates, that could indicate strong Democratic enthusiasm in Alaska as well, something that could affect the November result.

Two years ago, Democratic candidates posted unusually strong results in the August primary — but Alaska still voted for Trump by six percentage points and elected Republicans to statewide office.

Will any incumbents be voted out early in the Alaska Legislature?

Of the 50 state House and Senate races on the ballot Tuesday, there are only five with more than four candidates. Three of those races — two in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and one in Eagle River — have incumbents. 

Incumbent lawmakers traditionally have an advantage in crowded primary elections because of name recognition and popularity, but it’s possible that one or more could lose. 

Rep. Garret Nelson, R-Sutton, was appointed to his office by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and is running for election for the first time against five challengers. Rep. Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, is facing four challengers, as is Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake.

In Bristol Bay, Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, is competing with four other candidates to replace Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, who is retiring as the longest-serving state legislator in Alaska history.

Seven people are competing to replace Edgmon in the state’s most crowded legislative race. 

Will donation limits return to Alaska’s state political campaigns?

In 2006, 73% of participating voters approved a ballot measure that limited the amount of money that a political candidate can receive from a person or group. 

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned those limits in 2021, and the Dunleavy administration declined to fight the issue further.

Now, voters will be asked to reimpose some limits. The new measure isn’t as comprehensive as the last measure, in part because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that states cannot limit third-party spending by groups acting independently of campaigns.

Those groups have flooded Alaskans’ mailboxes with mailers ahead of the primary, but stanching the flow could require an amendment to the U.S. Constitution or a new ruling by the Supreme Court. 

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(The Center Square) – Billions of dollars of government spending over a decade have done nothing to stop homeownership from slipping out of reach for millions of Americans.

There are five competitive races for the Alaska House and Senate in this year’s primary election, where candidates are vying for the top four places in order to advance to the ranked choice general election in November.

Early voting has begun across Alaska, and ends on Tuesday with polls closing at 8 p.m. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, Aug. 18. 

All 40 members of the Alaska House are up for election; 10 of the 20 Senate seats are up for election.

[Voter Guide: 2026 Voter Guide Voter Guide: The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.]

In those races with four or fewer candidates, all are expected to advance to the general election unless they decide to drop out by an Aug. 31 deadline. 

Those competitive primary races include one of the largest Senate districts that extends from Western Alaska to the Aleutian Islands, as well as House districts in Southwest Alaska, Eagle River and  in the eastern and western districts of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. 

In the Western Alaska Senate District S, longtime incumbent Bethel Democrat Sen. Lyman Hoffman is retiring. The district extends from Western Alaska to Lake Clark and south across the Aleutian Islands, and the Senate seat represents approximately 36,800 Alaskans. 

The candidates are current House Speaker Independent Rep. Bryce Edgmon of Dillingham, Republican Darren Deacon of Aniak, Democrat Wassilie Guy of Napaskiak and Independents Wayne Morgan of Aniak and Rick Robb of Bethel.

The winner of the Senate race in November will serve a four-year term. 

Alaska House seats represent approximately 18,335 Alaskans each, and representatives serve two-year terms. 

Edgmon is vacating a seat representing House District 37, which includes Southwest Alaska communities from Bristol Bay to the Aleutian Islands.

Seven candidates are running for the top four spots this race: Independents Peter Angasan of King Salmon, Kimberly Johnson of Dillingham, Mark Smith of Aleknagik and Cade Woods of Dillingham; Democrats Dennis Robinson of Unalaska and Evelynn Trefon of Newhalen; and Republican Brenda Wilson of King Cove. 

Five candidates are running for House District 23, which encompasses Eagle River, a northern suburb of Anchorage near the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Incumbent Republican Rep. Jamie Allard is running for re-election, challenged by Republicans Nick Capozzi and Ruby Jones, and Democrats Jim Arlington and Lee Hammermeister.

In the eastern district of the Manatuska-Susitna Borough, House District 29 covers communities in the Palmer-Fishook area eastward to Valdez. Incumbent Republican Rep. Garret Nelson is running for the seat for the first time. He was appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to the seat last year, after former Rep. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, was appointed to the Alaska Senate to fill a seat vacated by Shelley Hughes who is running for governor.

Challenging Nelson are Independents Amber Hansen of Wasilla and Jessica Kusner-Kalarchik of Palmer, Republican Steve Menard of Palmer, Democrat Kimberly Slone of Wasilla and Libertarian Candice Frisby of Palmer. 

In House District 30, in the western region of the Mat-Su Borough from Big Lake to Talkeetna, four candidates are challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe. He was first elected to the seat in 2020. McCabe will face Democrat Sandra Loomis of Talkeetna and Republicans Mike Alexander of Big Lake, Doyle Holmes of Willow and Doug Massie of Wasilla.

In the House, 36 races are expected to be competitive in the general election. Four incumbents are running unopposed: Rep. Sara Hannan, D-Juneau, in District 4; Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage in District 10, Rep. Genevieve Mina, D-Anchorage in District 19; Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage in District 10, and Rep. Will Stapp, R-Fairbanks in District 32.

In the Senate, seven races are expected to be competitive in the general election. Three Senate incumbents are running unopposed, including Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, and Anchorage Democrats Bill Wielochowski, and Löki Tobin.

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I was aimlessly scrolling through Instagram when I learned that Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, or JKT, had entered the governor’s race.

My interest was piqued — not so much by the announcement as the photo attached to it. Framed by a majestic Sitka mountainscape, JKT sports a blue flannel button up — classic Alaska campaign-wear. I took a screenshot, zoomed in, and squinted. Did he always have that beard? 

I’d be hard pressed to believe JKT didn’t grow it for the campaign. The timing is at least suspicious. Since entering the race, the long clean-shaven policy nerd has transformed into a robustly-bearded powerlifter. In a campaign video, he’s seen deadlifting a huge rack of weights to “save schools” and “protect our fisheries.”

It’s not enough that JKT was born and raised in Sitka and has spent much of his adult life serving in the state Legislature. In order to be truly worthy of a shot at governor, he must now audition for the title of “Real Alaskan.”

He’s far from the only one.

Every campaign season, like clockwork, candidates across the political spectrum jockey to position themselves as “Real Alaskans.” (Or, in the case of U.S. House hopeful Bill Hill, “the Real Alaska.”)

Over a banjo-string track, a man’s warm, bassy voice booms through my Instagram feed, declaring that incumbent U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan will “fight for Alaskans.”

Meanwhile, the senator’s detractors take shots at his Alaskan bona fides with the derisive nickname “Ohio Dan.”

My mailbox is stuffed with images of congressional hopefuls in Copper River Fleecevests and frontier-esque flannel.

Every candidate wants to prove they’re the most “Real Alaskan,” and therefore most fit for your vote.

But what does it mean to be a “Real Alaskan?” While that’s a hot topic of debate, a 2008 journal article argues that the term is “deeply coded” as white, rural and masculine.

In this paradigm — the one that often dominates public discourse — Real Alaskans hunt, fish and work blue collar jobs. They fight, shoot and defend us from Washington, D.C. lobbyists. They forgo suits for Grundens, bolo ties and of course, flannel. They’re tough, hardy, no-nonsense and raring to stand up to the Washington bureaucrats who think they’re better than us.

Here’s where it gets absurd: The tropes that make up the Real Alaskan ethos didn’t originate here at all. Their forerunner is a much older archetype that dates back over 200 years, to when Kentucky was America’s far-West frontier.

In my podcast The Alaska Myth, I argue that the Real Alaskan is cheap repackaging of what historian Richard Slotkin refers to as hunter-heroes — think Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. As the frontier moved west, so did the stereotype, eventually donning Carhartts and Xtratuffs to birth the modern image of the “Real Alaskan.”

What’s interesting about those memorable images of Western “heroes”, with their guns and coonskin caps, is that they were always political in nature. Boone and Crockett weren’t just frontier icons. They were also politicians who sought to woo rural constituents with their sharpshooting frontier cred.

This 19th Century political innovation remains deeply embedded here in Alaska, in the politics of the “Last Frontier.” Regardless of your party affiliation or identity, performing Real Alaskan-ness has become a prerequisite for entering any high profile race in this state. This is how our feeds become clogged with videos using folksy language about “Alaskans being whipsawed from one generation to the next” or how “in Alaska, we’ve always done things our own way.”

Real talk: I want to know what runs through the mind of a campaign communications staffer when their candidate’s lead in the polls starts to narrow. And whether it’s some version of “Well, we can always make a video about that time the senator took out a Kodiak bear.”

Regardless of political affiliation or personal background, no candidate is immune to this posturing.

Solely by virtue of their identity, any Alaska Native candidate is arguably far more of a “Real Alaskan” than their self-styled settler competitors. And yet they too tend to earnestly perform the tropes associated with the white, rural and masculine-coded “Real Alaskan.”

Bill Hill’s website reminds voters he’s not just Dena’ina Athabaskan but also a lifelong Alaskan, with a resume that includes commercial fishing and chopping wood. Whether these credentials — the basis of an aligned super PAC’s claim that Hill is the “real Alaska” — will translate into votes is more dubious.

On her campaign website, Mary Peltola’s “my story” page puzzlingly makes no mention of her Yup’ik identity — though it does feature images of her in a smokehouse and wearing a traditional kuspuk. It is, however, permeated with colorful, frontier-coded language, from quoting Ted Stevens’ “to hell with politics” to expressing her vision of a congressional delegation that’s “strong and tough.”

It’s not just this year’s campaigns, either. The impulse to prove that one is indeed a “Real Alaskan” has produced some of the cringiest campaigning in recent memory.

If you want to make any Alaskan shudder with secondhand embarrassment, you need only utter two words: Bear Doctor. Despite the backlash the now-infamous videoreceived, former U.S. Senate hopeful Dr. Al Gross was simply drawing from the same toolkit candidates use every campaign season.

To be fair, these representations are often true to the lifestyles that many of these candidates lead. This year’s field is full of contenders who represent various shades of the distinct lifestyles that make up this state: fisherman, mushers and pilots, to name a few.

But I can’t help but be cynical about the requirement to campaign as a Real Alaskan, knowing that it’s rooted in the idea of the frontier.

At the end of the 19th Century, the concept was thought so close to death that historians were eulogizing it. And it’s very much a product of its time. Frontier logic posits that there are endless resources to be exploited, and a glittering economic future awaits those who exploit the right ones. When frontier imagery and frontier logic alike have a chokehold on our politics, they endlessly offer the same tired 19th Century solutions — like developing any resource we can think of — to our 21st Century ills. Just ask the state legislators who are currently debating the gas pipeline that elected leaders have been propping up for the better part of the last 50 years.

I know my view is a minority one. I was reminded of that when I casually ribbed JKT’s frontier glow up at a recent dinner party.  A friend of mine — an outdoorsy transplant who leans progressive — said he’d noticed, and he was a fan. “I’m more likely to vote for a man who’s put some work into himself,” he said approvingly.

Ultimately, candidates lean on this tried and true formula because when candidates can pull it off, it works. Don Young, the longtime bolo-tie wearing Alaska Congressman originally from California, so successfully channeled the frontier spirit that candidates across the political spectrum tout him as an aspirational figure.

As to which candidates’ Real Alaskan antics will win over the electorate this time?

Only the primaries will tell.

This story was originally published in the Anchorage Press. Subscribe here.

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