Category: Alaska News

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Primary voters have not removed any of the Alaska Legislature’s incumbent lawmakers, according to preliminary, incomplete vote tallies published late Tuesday by the Alaska Division of Elections.

Of the 40 state House and 10 state Senate races on ballots across the state, only five had more than four candidates. 

That matters because the top four vote-getters advance to the general election, and if a race has four or fewer candidates, the primary eliminates no one. 

Vote-counting is expected to continue through Aug. 28, the deadline for absentee ballots to arrive by mail and be counted. 

Candidates who qualify for November may still withdraw before the general election. The deadline to quit is Aug. 31.

Success in the August primary doesn’t always equal success in November: Two years ago, Sen. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, received fewer votes in the August primary than his Republican challenger, Leslie Hajdukovich, in a head-to-head race. 

Just three months later, Kawasaki reversed that result and remains a member of the Senate today.

House District 37 – Bristol Bay

In southwest Alaska, three candidates were on course late Tuesday to be eliminated from contention for House District 37, where Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, is not seeking re-election.

With 20 of 35 precincts reporting at 12 a.m. Wednesday, Republican candidate Brenda Wilson led with 29.5% of the vote. The district leans Democratic, but there were two Democratic candidates and four independents, which likely split Tuesday’s vote. 

Democratic candidate Dennis Robinson was second, with 23.8% of the vote, followed by nonpartisan Mark Smith (15.4%) and Democrat Evelynn Trefon (14.5%). 

On track for elimination were Kim Johnson (6.7%), Peter Angasan (6.2%), and Cade Woods (4%). 

Senate District S – Southwest Alaska

After Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, announced his retirement, five candidates signed up to replace the longest-serving member of the Alaska Legislature. Among them is Edgmon, who had 33.1% of the vote with 27 of 59 precincts reporting results at 12 a.m. Wednesday. 

Republican candidate Darren Deacon (24.7%) was in second, with nonpartisan candidate Richard “Rick” Robb (17.1%) in third and Democratic candidate Wassilie Guy (16.8%) in fourth. 

In fifth place and on track to be eliminated was undeclared candidate Wayne Morgan, with 8.3% of the vote.

House District 23 – Eagle River

In Eagle River, Republican Rep. Jamie Allard faced four challengers in Tuesday’s primary vote. On Wednesday morning, with all precincts reporting results from election day, Democratic candidate Lee Hammermeister had just 5.8% of the vote and was on track to be eliminated. 

That would leave Allard, who had 41% of the vote, to face two other Republicans — Nick Capozzi (9.1%) and Ruby Jones (13.3%) — as well as one Democrat, Jim Arlington, with 30.9% of the vote. 

House District 29 – Eastern Mat-Su

Gov. Mike Dunleavy appointed Republican Garret Nelson of Sutton to represent this district after its former Representative was selected to fill a vacancy in the state Senate.

Now, Nelson is running for a term of his own and facing five challengers.

On Wednesday morning, with all precincts reporting results, Nelson had just 23.7% of the vote, behind Republican challenger Steve Menard, with 40.5%. Also in the top four were Democratic challenger Kimberly Slone, with 21.6% and nonpartisan challenger Jessica Kusner-Kalarchik, with 7.7%.

On pace to be eliminated were Libertarian Candice Frisby (4.5%) and undeclared candidate Amber Hansen (2.1%). 

House District 30 – Big Lake

Republican Rep. Kevin McCabe is an outspoken member of the Alaska House’s minority caucus and faced four challengers — three of whom are Republicans — in Tuesday’s primary.

With 12 of 12 precincts reporting results, McCabe led the field with 33.2% of the vote. Democratic challenger Sandra Loomis was second with 27.2%, followed by Republican Doug Massie (20.9%) and Republican Doyle Holmes (13.9%).

Republican Mike Alexander, with 4.8% of the vote, was on course to be eliminated. 

Other races to watch

While no other candidates will be eliminated in the primary election, the statewide trend in the primary was favorable for Democrats. No incumbent Democrat trailed a Republican on election day, but several incumbent Republicans trailed Democrats. 

In Anchorage, with all election day precincts reporting, Democratic candidate Denny Wells led Republican Rep. Mia Costello by 57 votes out of 3,651 cast in the race for House District 15, Sand Lake. 

Wells narrowly lost to Costello two years ago and had an even closer loss to former Republican Rep. Tom McKay in the same district in 2022. 

In Fairbanks, nonpartisan candidate Joy Cottle led Republican candidate Harmony Tomaszewski by four percentage points in a district where President Donald Trump won over 58% of the vote two years ago.

Tomaszewski is the spouse of the incumbent, Republican Rep. Frank Tomaszewski, who is running for Senate this year. 

In Homer, nonpartisan candidate Brent Johnson had 55% of the vote, compared to 45% for incumbent Republican Rep. Sarah Vance. 

The lone incumbent Democrat trailing on election day, Rep. Nellie Unangiq Jimmie, was trailing another Democrat, CJ McCormick, who held the seat until Jimmie won it two years ago.

With just 7 of 24 precincts reporting in House District 38, Jimmie had 24.2% of the vote, while McCormick had 41.7%. Republican candidate Willy Keppel had 23.3% and nonpartisan candidate Joseph Amik had 10.8%. 

In all of these races, the results could be different in November, when the same candidates are scheduled to run against each other again.

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(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and Mary Peltola advanced to November’s general election for U.S. Senate in Alaska’s crucial race to determine control of the upper chamber.

The latest news and information from your Alaska news station.

This article is developing and will be updated.

Early tallies from Tuesday’s statewide primary election showed overwhelming support for a ballot measure that will restrict the amount of money that political candidates can accept from groups and individuals.

With 324 of 403 precincts reporting by 12 a.m. Wednesday morning, Ballot Measure 1 had the support of 71.9% of participating voters. 

That’s only slightly less than the 73% margin that a similar ballot measure received in 2006. 

The limits imposed by that 2006 measure remained in place until 2021, when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Alaska’s limits on campaign contributions were so tight that they violated the First Amendment.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration declined to appeal that decision, and the state’s 2022, 2024 and 2026 elections have taken place without limits on the amount of money that candidates may accept. 

A poorly funded group called Citizens Against Money in Politics gathered thousands of signatures to put a measure on the ballot. The Alaska Legislature passed a substantially similar bill this year, but Dunleavy vetoed it, clearing the way for the measure to appear on the August primary ballot.

Vote-counting is expected to continue through Aug. 28, the deadline for mailed absentee ballots to reach the Alaska Division of Elections.

Barring legal challenge, the measure would take effect after this year’s elections.

When enacted, the new law would prohibit political donors from giving a candidate more than $2,000 per election. Groups would be allowed to give no more than $4,000 per candidate per election.

Both limits would be adjusted for inflation every 10 years, and they will only apply to state-level elections — for governor, state House and state Senate.

Candidates themselves would still be allowed to spend as much of their own money as they want on their own campaign.

Federal elections — those for President, U.S. Senate and U.S. House — operate under different limits in federal law.

The measure does not affect the amount of money that can be spent by groups operating independently of candidates’ campaigns.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that limiting those groups amounts to restricting their free speech. 

Also this year, the Supreme Court ruled that political parties may spend unlimited amounts of money in conjunction with candidates for federal office. That decision does not directly affect state candidates but could implicate them in the future.

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This article is developing and will be updated. 

Early vote counting in Alaska’s statewide, top-four primary election showed no surprises in the state’s two federal races.

For U.S. Senate, Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola led a 16-candidate field with 324 of 403 precincts reporting results as of 12 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Peltola had 47.8% of the votes counted to that point, while Sullivan had 43.3%. Republican challenger Dan J. Sullivan of Petersburg was in third with 2.5%, and Democratic candidate David Leslie was in fourth with 1.1%, only slightly ahead of Republican Gerald Heikes. 

In the U.S. House race, which had 15 candidates, incumbent Republican Rep. Nick Begich III had 46.2% of the votes counted by 12 a.m., while independent challenger Bill Hill had 31.1%. Democrat Matt Schultz, who suspended his campaign in July to back Hill, had 8.1%, and federal inmate Eric Hafner, a Democratic candidate, had 3.8%. 

National Democrats have focused on Alaska’s federal races as they attempt to win control of Congress in this year’s midterm elections. National Republicans are also spending heavily to defend the incumbents. Control of the House and Senate depend on a relative handful of seats nationally, and Alaska’s delegation could be a decisive factor. 

Vote-counting is expected to continue through Aug. 28, the deadline for mailed absentee ballots to reach the Alaska Division of Elections.

Candidates who finish in the top four may also withdraw from the election until Aug. 31. If a candidate withdraws, their position is taken by the fifth-place finisher. If two candidates withdraw, the sixth-place finisher is also promoted. 

While Peltola and Begich appeared to be on course to win the most primary-election votes, primary success doesn’t always mean success in the November general election. 

Two years ago, then-incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola earned almost 51% of the vote during that year’s pick-one primary, outpacing all Republican candidates combined. In the general election, the result flipped and Begich III defeated Peltola.

After the polls closed Tuesday night, Sullivan joined supporters at a campaign event at the Alaska Aviation Museum in Anchorage. He expressed gratitude for the support and touted his record in the Senate.  

He pointed to shepherding federal funds to Alaska for the U.S. Coast Guard, military, and oil and gas development in the North Slope, as well as supporting tax cuts enacted in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“I am proud of my record as your U.S. Senator,” he said. “When I ran in 2014, I talked about getting big things done, historic things done, for our state, and that’s what we’re doing,” he said.

While Sullivan did not mention President Donald Trump by name, he praised the success of Republican policies. 

“D.C. Democrats don’t have an agenda or a vision for Alaska. They have a target on Alaska, and we’re not going to let them do it,” he said. 

Sullivan criticized campaign spending from outside of Alaska to support his main challenger, Peltola. 

“My opponent, the Democrat, she’s got unlimited money from Lower 48 billionaires and millionaires, and, you know, who the hell ever,” he said. “We don’t have that money, right? But we got you, and we’re going to win the general election with you.”

Across town, Peltola supporters gathered at a campaign event at a downtown Anchorage brewery, where she arrived just after 9 p.m. to applause from the crowd. She began by acknowledging she worked well with her opponent, Sullivan, when she served as Alaska’s sole U.S. House Representative, but said he was no longer working for Alaskans.

She cited his support of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, which fired federal employees, and his votes to defund public media and support the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which will cut nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid over the next decade. 

“We have tens of thousands of Alaskans who can no longer afford health insurance, and we are getting crushed by corporate greed,” she said. “Dan Sullivan, every single vote, votes along with corporate greed. He is there for every fat cat in the nation.”

Peltola criticized the overrepresentation of millionaires and billionaires in Congress. “Half of Congress does not reflect their electorate. This has to change. We’ve got to get working people, regular people, in worrying about regular people,” she said.

She thanked her supporters and some 10,000 volunteers for her campaign and said the focus now is on the general election.

“I am so glad that the primary is now behind us. It’s a real campaign now. We are really in this,” she said. “There’s still 77 days left till November 3, and we are now in 5th gear overdrive.”

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This article is developing and will be updated. 

Democratic governor candidates Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, and Republican candidates Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson led in early vote counting for Alaska’s Tuesday primary election for governor.

Seventeen people, including two Democrats, 12 Republicans and three independents, are seeking to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run again this year.

As of 12 a.m. Wednesday, with 324 of 402 precincts reporting results from election day, Kreiss-Tomkins had 21.8% of the vote, Begich had 20%, Wilson had 10.6% and Bronson had 8.5%.

The first candidate outside the top four was Republican Treg Taylor, with 7.5%, followed by Republican Click Bishop, with 7%.

Ballot-counting is expected to continue through Aug. 28, the deadline for mailed absentee ballots to reach the Alaska Division of Elections.

Candidates who finish in the top four have until Aug. 31 to decide whether they will remain in the race or withdraw. In 2022 and 2024, several high-finishing candidates have withdrawn from statewide races in order to consolidate party support, and the leading governor candidates have said that they are considering their options.

Kreiss-Tomkins, 37, would be the youngest governor in Alaska history if elected in November and has campaigned as a progressive Democrat.

“Today, Alaskans took the first huge step in choosing a new direction for our state,” he said in a written statement Tuesday night.

Begich, a former state senator, has likewise run as a progressive Democrat. He is the son of former Democratic U.S. Rep. Nick Begich, brother of former Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and the uncle of current Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III.

Wilson, a businesswoman from Anchorage, has been active in statewide Republican politics for decades but never before as a candidate. An opponent of the state’s existing open-primary/ranked-choice general election system, she has offered a platform similar to that of incumbent Gov. Dunleavy.

Bronson is a former mayor of Anchorage whose sole term was marred by repeated controversies and scandals before he was voted out of office. He has likewise offered a platform similar to Dunleavy. 

While the two Democratic candidates are almost certain to finish with the highest vote tally in the primary, success in the primary doesn’t always signify a win in November. 

Two years ago, incumbent Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola earned almost 51% of the vote during that year’s pick-one primary for U.S. House, outpacing all Republican candidates combined. In the general election, the result flipped and Republican challenger Nick Begich III defeated Peltola.

On Tuesday, the combined vote total of Begich and Kreiss-Tomkins appeared on track to be less than 50% of all votes cast. 

Voter turnout appeared to be high; with only 60% of precincts reporting results, participation was already above the 2024 primary and inching toward the near-record turnout of 2022, when the primary coincided with a special election to fill out the term of U.S. Rep. Don Young, who had died in the spring. 

As of Tuesday morning, voters had returned only 47% of the 21,266 absentee ballots that were sent out, indicating that thousands more ballots are likely to be added to the tally in coming days.

In the 2024 primary, 86% of absentee ballots were returned, and in the 2022 primary, almost 98% were returned.

Ahead of the election, President Donald Trump had sought to ban states from counting absentee ballots received after election day. 

The Dunleavy administration did not oppose the Trump order in court, but other states did, and the U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the president’s move for now.

In addition to the absentee ballots, there were 25,407 early votes, cast in person at 10 locations on the Railbelt, in Juneau and in Nome, between Aug. 3 and Aug. 17. 

Only early votes cast through Aug. 13 were included in the election day count; ballots cast during the final five days of early voting are sequestered by the division to prevent double voting. 

While the number of Alaskans casting ballots at early voting centers set a primary-election record, most votes this year came on election day, at more than 400 polling places spread across the state.

In Anchorage, candidates stood on street corners, waving signs alongside supporters — and competed for space with their opponents.

At one point, Begich — a Democrat — stood on a corner opposite from U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III, his nephew and a Republican.

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At least two polling stations in rural Alaska opened late for the Tuesday statewide primary election, the Alaska Division of Elections confirmed late Tuesday, and observers independently reported other sites also opened late.

The problem was most acute in the southwestern village of Nunapitchuk, where bad weather grounded flights and kept elections workers from opening a polling place until 5 p.m. That gave local voters only three hours to vote before the scheduled 8 p.m. close.

Nunapitchuk has 343 registered voters, mostly independents. 

In the North Slope village of Point Lay, polls opened at 8 a.m., one hour later than scheduled.

Michelle Sparck is director of Get Out The Native Vote and has been working for months to help recruit local poll workers. 

Late Tuesday, she said polls in the North Slope village of Wainwright didn’t open until 4 p.m. due to staffing issues, and Anaktuvuk Pass in the central Brooks Range had similar problems, with the city mayor temporarily stepping in. 

The Division of Elections did not respond to a question seeking to verify Sparck’s report.

Tuesday’s issues followed a warning from the Alaska Federation of Natives and other groups.

The groups issued a public letter saying they were “deeply concerned by reports of significant vacancies among election workers in rural Alaska precincts, as well as reports that some election workers have waited for months to receive per diem following required election training.”

The letter called for the Division of Elections to take additional steps to ensure that rural polling locations were open on time before the primary. 

Earlier this year, the Alaska Legislature passed a bipartisan, bicameral election reform bill that would have mandated some actions to improve rural voting access. 

Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed that bill, and the Legislature failed to override the veto after two Republicans from Southeast Alaska reversed themselves and voted to sustain the veto after voting to pass the bill. 

Even with late openings in places across the state, the Division of Elections appeared to perform better in rural Alaska than it did in the 2024 and 2022 primaries. 

Two years ago, polling stations failed to open at all in Wales and Kaktovik for the primary election, and polling places in several other locations failed to open on time. 

In 2022, polling places in the southwest villages of Tununak and Atmautluak failed to open for the primary election, and a lack of poll workers meant two other communities could only vote by absentee ballot.

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