Tag: election

By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

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.2026 Voter Guide

The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.

Alaska Votes: 2026

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.

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Alaska’s two leading Democratic candidates for governor have quietly been discussing whether one of them should quit the race if both are among the top four vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary election. 

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich each said by phone on Thursday that they’ve been discussing different scenarios about what could happen when the final votes are counted.

Republicans have been talking about similar maneuvers for months, with one prominent Republican group going so far as to run ads urging lower-finishing candidates to withdraw in order to consolidate the vote in November.

“Both sides are trying to figure out: What does the top four look like? And how are we best positioned for success?” said Bernadette Wilson, one of the leading Republican candidates for governor in Alaska’s 17-person race.

Under Alaska’s election system, the top four vote-getters — regardless of political party — advance to the November general election. That may mean multiple Republicans or Democrats on the same ballot, competing for the same votes.

In November, voters in the general election will be asked to rank those four candidates in order of preference. 

After all the votes are in, the candidate with the fewest number of first-choice preferences is eliminated. Any voters who ranked that candidate first will have their votes go to their second choice.

The process repeats until only two candidates are left. 

In theory, that means no vote splitting. Anyone whose favorite candidate is eliminated can instead vote for someone else.

In practice, some Alaska voters ranked only one or two candidates in the 2022 and 2024 statewide elections, leading to an unusual number of “exhausted” ballots whose votes went to neither of the final two candidates. 

Two years ago, that led to large amounts of post-primary maneuvering as lower-finishing candidates withdrew from races in order to force unfavorable matchups for one top finisher or another.

In the U.S. House race, two top Republican finishers withdrew after the primary, which put imprisoned Democratic U.S. House candidate Eric Hafner into the final four.

That November, Hafner was eliminated first, and fewer than half his votes transferred to the other Democrat, then-incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola. 

That was less than Peltola’s margin of defeat — Peltola was defeated by current Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska — but in a closer race, it could have been decisive.

Now, as Peltola runs for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, a similar strategy is playing out. 

National groups have spent more than $2 million in an attempt to boost lesser-known candidates into the final four and potentially split the field. 

Dan J. Sullivan, unrelated to the incumbent senator, is on the ballot but told the Chicago Tribune that he’s uncertain whether he will remain in the race if he makes the top four. 

In the 17-person race to replace Gov. Mike Dunleavy — who is term-limited and unable to run this year — candidates have been talking for over a year about whether or not they will be willing to bow out after the primary.

Wilson entered the race in May 2025 and promptly pledged to withdraw after the primary if she finished behind another Republican. It’s a pledge she’s renewed since then.

“I don’t think that it’s smart to carry on. … I don’t think that we need any more division as we head into November. I don’t think that it’s smart to split up the voting base, the volunteers that help, I don’t think it’s smart to split up the finances,” she said.

Wilson also said that having multiple candidates from the same party risks denying the eventual winner a mandate — a margin of victory so large that it gives the winner political backing to implement their platform.

“I think it’s important that a governor win by a strong strongest margin as possible, because I think that it’s important for the stability and the unity of the state past November,” she said.

Wilson has also been campaigning hard to repeal Alaska’s current elections system with Ballot Measure 2, which will come in front of voters in November.

Post-primary juggling is evidence that ranked choice voting doesn’t work, she said.

Supporters of the state’s elections system and some detractors have said that it dilutes the influence of the Republican and Democratic parties. Wilson doesn’t see it that way. 

“I think it’s just made it worse,” Wilson said. “I think it’s handed more power to backroom conversations, and I just don’t think the public’s gonna like it.”

Jenny-Marie Stryker, executive director of the Alaska Democratic Party, was traveling on Friday and unavailable for an interview, a spokesman said. Carmela Warfield, chair of the Alaska Republican Party, did not respond to an email.

The Valley Republican Women, an influential group based in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, has an ongoing ad campaign that urges Republicans to “vote the primary, consolidate the vote” and “don’t split the field.” 

Julia Anastos, campaign manager for the group opposing Ballot Measure 2, said by email that gamesmanship isn’t new in Alaska.

“Parties and political insiders will always strategize about who should run and who should drop out. These kinds of maneuvers happen under a partisan primary as well, like in the 2014 and 2018 gubernatorial races, when would-be spoiler candidates dropped out to clear the lane for a stronger candidate,” she said. “Under our system now, ranked choice voting addresses that spoiler effect and ensures the winning candidate has earned majority support.”

The issue of what to do after the primary was a key issue at a forum earlier this month in Soldotna, when five candidates were directly asked about the issue.

“I would stay in,” nonpartisan candidate Meda DeWitt told forum attendees. 

As a nonpartisan, she sees herself able to attract second-choice votes from both Republicans and Democrats.

“I actually appreciate ranked choice voting because your vote is not lost if your top pick doesn’t get in,” she said.

Adam Crum, a Republican candidate and former Dunleavy cabinet official, said he thinks there’s an advantage to having multiple Republicans in the general election.

“It actually does make more sense for more conservatives to stay in it, because you actually work together,” he said. 

In the 2022 special election to replace Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, Republican candidates Sarah Palin and Nick Begich III frequently fought each other on the campaign trail. That turned off Republican voters, Crum noted. 

During the current primary election campaign, he said, “We have actually done a very good job … of actually working together and pushing forward ideas.”

A cordial campaign keeps voters involved and going to the polls, he said.

“You actually increase the ceiling, and the math actually works out. I’m a numbers guy. Over time, it does work,” Crum said.

Matt Heilala, a podiatrist and Republican who has put more than $1.5 million of his own money into a campaign for governor, said that last year, “I had the thought that I would immediately withdraw because we saw what happened with Sarah and Nick.”

Now, he’s not as sure. What if there’s “an indictment, an October surprise, some kind of a shenanigan that the opposing party is going to play on the person that is 10 votes ahead of me, and they’re just waiting for me to leave?” he asked. 

In that case, having another Republican would be helpful, he suggested.

Dave Bronson, the former Anchorage mayor and Republican candidate for governor, said he intends to reserve his options until he sees what happens in the primary.

“The notion that I would stand up and say at this point in time I’ll absolutely get out if I’m No. 2 on the Republican side — that’s foolishness,” he said.

By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon

Editor’s note: This article, initially published Friday, was updated Sunday morning with a statement from Zuckerberg.

A small cruise ship operating in Southeast Alaska made an unexpected detour on Monday night to help a 21-foot skiff that ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau.

Michael Love, a software developer from New York City, was a passenger aboard the cruise ship and described the event on social media. 

What got his attention the most wasn’t the rescue itself — it was when the captain announced that the yacht of billionaire Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg was closer and hadn’t answered the radio call for help.

“There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this,” he said in a post on the social media network Bluesky.

Vessel tracking services in the area back up that account — they show the $300 million, 387-foot yacht Launchpad slowing to a halt outside Farragut Bay as the UnCruise Adventures ship Wilderness Legacy steams around and past the Launchpad, stops at the apparent site of the skiff, then tows it into sheltered Farragut Bay.

Through a Bluesky message, Love said it was nice to be on a boat that was engaging with its surroundings in a positive way.

“Frankly, if I was Mark Zuckerberg I would be absolutely ecstatic at a chance to do something helpful for someone in need and maybe get some good PR out of it,” he said.

Social media accounts responding to Love’s account accused the yacht’s crew of violating international agreements that mandate aid from the nearest ship to one in distress.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marine Exchange of Alaska, which monitors ship traffic in Alaska, there was no distress call — just a general request for assistance.

Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Shannon Shepard said by email that the Coast Guard heard the call for help just after 9:30 p.m. Monday night.

“At approximately 9:56 p.m., the Coast Guard determined they were not in distress and issued a marine assistance request broadcast on their behalf,” she said. 

John Hollingsworth is the chief operations officer of the Marine Exchange, which is based in Juneau and repeated the broadcast. 

“We did assist the Coast Guard with callouts on our radio and (were) able to hail the Wilderness Legacy who ended up rendering assistance,” he said.

“From my experience, I know that situations like this contain myriad details for the vessels involved, so the AIS (tracking) snippet you obtained only reveals one of those details,” he said by email. “I do know that Wilderness Legacy is an UnCruise vessel and is very familiar with Alaska waters, so that may have contributed to them rendering assistance quickly.”

No information was available Friday about who may have been aboard the Launchpad on Monday evening. The Launchpad has been in Southeast Alaska for much of the summer. 

After the initial publication of this article, a spokesperson for Mark Zuckerberg emailed a statement: “Mark and his family were not on board at the time of the incident. As the Coast Guard noted, the boat was not in distress, and by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway. We’re grateful all parties are safe.”

The Wilderness Legacy’s detour is the second incidence of aid rendered by a small cruise ship in Southeast Alaska within two weeks. On July 30, the National Geographic Quest assisted a family who had to swim to shore in Glacier Bay National Park after a humpback whale sank their sailboat.

Dan Blanchard, who owns UnCruise, said he wasn’t initially aware of the Wilderness Legacy’s detour because “this kind of aid is such a common thing that it does not always rise to my attention.”

Sarah Scoltock, a spokeswoman for UnCruise, said the Wilderness Legacy was able to refuel the skiff after towing it into a sheltered area.

“The next day the (Wilderness Legacy’s) captain, Sean Manske, contacted them and received word they made it safely to Petersburg,” she said by email.

By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon

Six candidates for Alaska governor from across the political spectrum appeared side-by-side in a room full of superintendents and school officials in Juneau and promised that boosting education funding would be a priority of their administration, if elected.

Six candidates participated in the debate, out of 17 running for governor this year. Randy Hoffbeck, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor who stood in for his running mate, Bill Walker. They discussed their plans for education in a two-hour event hosted by the Alaska Superintendents’ Association on July 30. 2026 Voter Guide.

The candidates, the ballot measures, and the tools you need to cast your vote.

Alaska Votes: 2026

The gubernatorial candidates included Republican Click Bishop, Democrat Tom Begich, Republican Matt Heilala, Republican Lesil Maguire, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, and Independent Hoffbeck.

The panel was moderated by Randy Trani, superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, with questions organized by the board of the Alaska Superintendents Association. A group of roughly 50 superintendents and school administrators from across Alaska attended as part of the association’s summer conference event in Juneau.

All six candidates agreed Alaska education has been underfunded by the Dunleavy administration, with several candidates characterizing public education as “in crisis.” 

A record 12 schools were closed this year, amid millions in budget shortfalls, and others have cut teachers, programs and extracurricular activities. Districts reported funding has not kept pace with skyrocketing operating costs, amid declining enrollment as families leave the state or move to homeschool programs. 

Trani said afterward he found all the candidates “super impressive,” particularly their ideas for funding education.

“They understand that there’s a fiscal reality problem in the state and it has to be addressed,” he said. “They all have different ideas of how they’re going to do it, but at least they’re leading with it as a top priority.”

Luke Meinert is superintendent of the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, which has closed seven schools in the past five years due to budget shortfalls and declining enrollment. He said he was impressed with the candidates, their willingness to invest in education and their experience working on education issues in Alaska. 

“They’ve been in the game,” Meinert said. “I think maybe every one of them went to public schools here in Alaska, and so they had experienced public schools at a time where we were investing a lot in our school districts. And it was great to hear that they want to get back to those times because that can improve our retention and recruitment efforts for teachers, and then obviously student outcomes on the other end of that.”

Hoffbeck, who is running for Lieutenant Governor on Bill Walker’s ticket, did not go to Alaska public schools, but Walker did.

The candidates shared their plans for funding for Alaska districts, tackling billions of dollars in deferred maintenance, boosting recruitment and retention of teachers and staff, and providing them healthcare and retirement, as well as views on local control of school boards, fiscal plans for the state and other issues. 

Funding for education

Despite Alaska school districts reporting severe budget shortfalls and cutting teachers and programs, Gov. Mike Dunleavy has opposed sustained increases to per student funding, arguing against more funding without changes to policy. He has particularly sought changes related to charter schools and homeschool programs.

But all six candidates agreed that schools have not been adequately funded under the Dunleavy administration, and that stable and reliable funding for districts is essential. They all said boosting investment in education is a priority of their campaigns.

Begich, Hoffbeck, Kreiss-Tomkins and McGuire said they support “forward funding” education and providing budgets to districts earlier in the year to provide more stability to districts. The state budget is currently finalized in June. 

Begich said he would advocate for an immediate boost to per student funding, known as the base student allocation — the core of the state’s funding formula — to account for rising inflation. He proposed increasing the figure by roughly 15% to $7,680 per child and tie increases with inflation each year. He said he would also support fully funding pre-K to be available in all school districts. 

Bishop said he would focus particularly on investing in career and technical education, referring to his experience growing up in a family of operating engineers and working in construction. “I’m going to push that till the day I die,” he said. “Nothing wrong with four-year degrees or higher. Career and tech ed needs to be improved upon in this state, and I’m the person that can do it working with you.” 

McGuire and Kreiss-Tomkins said they support reviewing and revising the state’s complex funding formula to ensure districts are adequately funded. Both McGuire and Kreiss-Tomkins as well as Heilala said education has become a politically divisive issue which has obstructed progress. Kreiss-Tomkins called education policy a “Pandora’s box” avoided by lawmakers not wanting to take political risks.

Kreiss-Tomkins and Hoffbeck said they support a constitutional amendment to create a special fund for education separate from the state’s budget. “A constitutional amendment’s only way to dedicate funds in Alaska that can effectively politically de-risk education funding going forward, and also largely account for inflation,” Kreiss-Tomkins said. 

Hoffbeck agreed there is a lack of trust between districts and the state under Dunleavy, which he said must be repaired. He said he believes adequate funding varies by school district across the state, and he and Walker both support a review of state funding for education by an independent third party to study and assess how much funding is needed by each school. 

“Just throwing more money at it doesn’t fix the problem. We need to be surgical on how we add that money,” he said. “Yes, absolutely, we are underfunded. We need more funding, but we need to fund very surgically as we go forward.”

Teacher recruitment and retention

The candidates agreed investing in hiring and retaining teachers is a major priority, but diverged on the question of whether the state should revive a defined benefit retirement plan for educators. 

Bishop and Heilala said they would focus education investments on boosting teacher pay. Heilala said funding should be more focused and efficient, and directed to teachers. “I believe teachers need pay raises. I think they probably need 15 to 30% pay raises, and of course, that’ll happen with a booming economy,” he said.

Hoffbeck said teacher recruitment and retention should focus on training and hiring local teachers, particularly for rural Alaska. “The local teachers would stay in the rural communities,” he said, referring to his time working in the North Slope Borough. “And so I think we need to have a robust local recruitment process, including certification programs that make it possible for somebody in the village that may not have a four-year degree.”

Bishop, Begich and Kreiss-Tomkins support reviving the defined benefit retirement system for teachers, and said they believe offering that again would boost recruitment. 

The state defined benefit retirement system for public employees was ended in 2006, after the system accrued a multi-billion dollar shortfall. Lawmakers passed legislation to revive the program this year, but Dunleavy vetoed it. 

Begich said he would also want the state to provide medical benefits in a new defined benefit retirement plan, as well as grants for teacher housing.

Heilala disagreed, and said the defined benefit system is the “biggest mistake.” He said a 401(k) retirement plan has greater certainty to create income.

Hoffbeck said he has concerns about a defined benefit retirement system as some districts would not be able to afford it.

McGuire said she does not support a defined benefit retirement plan, but supports a retirement system that the state can afford. She said she supports a student loan forgiveness program for teaching in Alaska, and low interest loans for housing to boost recruitment and retention. 

“I think housing is a huge issue. Let’s make Alaska the place you want to come teach,” she said.

School maintenance backlog

The candidates all agreed that addressing the state’s multi-billion dollar backlog in deferred maintenance in K-12 schools and the University of Alaska system would be a major priority of their administrations, and presented various ideas on how to fund it.

Bishop said part of his plan for funding education would be to levy an “education head tax,” a flat-rate tax per Alaskan regardless of income to pay for school maintenance. He said he’d introduced similar legislation when he was a member of the Alaska State Senate. 

“It’s ludicrous that we have this much of a deferred maintenance schedule,” he said. 

Begich said he supports the state paying to help boroughs and districts with school bond reimbursement, which is debt incurred by voter-approved bonds to fund school maintenance. He also supports the state backing a general obligation bond to generate hundreds of millions to address the existing maintenance backlog list. 

McGuire, Hoffbeck and Kreiss-Tomkins agreed issuing bonds was a good idea. Hoffbeck and Kreiss-Tomkins also said prioritizing hiring local contractors for construction and maintenance is important.

Kriess-Tomkins noted maintaining schools is an obligation under Alaska’s Constitution. He also cautioned that there will be changes to schools with declining numbers of students as a result of outward migration from the state and families having fewer children. He said he’d want to invest in a system to keep up with school repairs in order to avoid large costly repairs like roof replacements decades in the making.

Heilala said the deferred maintenance backlog is a challenge, but sees opportunities for consolidating schools with “goodwill.” He said he believes “connectivity” will change infrastructure needs and said he sees artificial intelligence as a “supersonic tsunami” hitting American society now, and creating opportunities for education. “Education is going to be disrupted and changed. I believe in a good way,” he said. “There’s a lot of great opportunity, but we need to approach it with optimism.” 

McGuire said a variety of solutions are needed to address school maintenance and repairs. “We’re so far behind at this point. We’re actually bordering up against litigation,” she said.

She cited legislative hearings and public outcry around the state-run boarding school, Mt. Edgecumbe High School this year when a quarter of students disenrolled sparking public focus on deteriorating school facilities. 

“It was a stomach-turning event,” McGuire said. “So I think there are a variety of solutions. We need to be brave and bold, pull it out, assess what we need to do, and then look at solutions and address it immediately.”