But amid near-record-low turnout, experts warn against drawing conclusions before the November general election.
Democrats and moderate Republicans posted unexpectedly strong results in Alaska’s primary election results for state House and Senate on Tuesday night, with several incumbent conservative Republicans trailing in the early tally.
Furthermore, the electorate in Alaska’s primary elections is much smaller than it is in the general election. In central Anchorage, longtime incumbent Democratic Rep. Andy Josephson has typically run close re-election races. On Tuesday night, he led his Republican challenger by 12 percentage points. In East Anchorage, Democratic challenger Ted Eischeid led Rep. Stanley Wright, R-Anchorage, by 19 votes out of about 1,095 cast. In South Anchorage, nonpartisan candidate Ky Holland had more than 40% of the vote in House District 9, with three Republicans — Lee Ellis, Lucy Bauer and Brandy Pennington — each having about 20% of the vote. Bauer held a narrow lead among the trio, with 21.7%.
The night didn’t entirely favor progressives and moderates. In Fairbanks, Republican challenger Leslie Hajdukovich led Democratic incumbent Sen. Scott Kawasaki by 2% in the election night tally.“It’s 75 days until the whole enchilada, so I don’t think anybody’s going to take their gas off the pedal,” he said.
Before election day, Schwanke said, “I’ve met every candidate in our race now, and of four Republicans, all of us share a very common concern that if one of us comes out at the head of the Republican list, that it’s actually quite important for the rest of us to get behind that person and and work in concert with the process, and try not to hand it off to the minority candidate that’s in the in the race.
On the Kenai Peninsula, incumbent Republicans Sarah Vance and Justin Ruffridge each had notable leads on election night. Two Republicans seeking to replace Rep. Ben Carpenter — Bill Elam and John Hillyer — were running in a virtual dead heat, with Hillyer leading by fewer than 50 votes out of almost 3,000 cast.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Alaska Art Alliance helps get people off the street and making artThe Alaska Art Alliance helps Alaska Native Carvers earn an income and sell their wares.
Read more »
Ravn Alaska suspending service to several key communities in Western AlaskaRavn Alaska is suspending flights to several key Aleutian communities starting later this month, officials confirmed with Alaska’s News Source on Wednesday.
Read more »
Ravn Alaska halts service to Unalaska and two other Western Alaska communitiesThe announcement follows major changes at the regional carrier, including a large cutback to the company’s workforce earlier this year.
Read more »
Alaska’s top-four primary to set stage for November electionPolls closed at 8 p.m., with initial results expected later Tuesday evening.
Read more »
Former Alaska Rep. LeDoux’s election misconduct trial delayed until NovemberState evidence was submitted days before the trial was set to start, which prompted the delay.
Read more »
Economic impacts of mining in Alaska include wages, taxes and career training, report saysAlaska’s mining industry supported 11,800 jobs and $1.1 billion in total wages in 2023, according to a report commissioned by the Alaska Miners Association and Alaska Metals Mines.
Read more »