The one-term Republican praised Alaska’s ranked choice voting system and decried the veto of a bill that would have permanently increased public education funding.
Rep. Jesse Sumner, a Wasilla Republican, said Thursday that he is ending his reelection campaign for the Alaska Legislature after coming in as the top finisher in a four-way primary., Sumner had 33% of primary votes. He faced three Republican challengers — Steve Menard, who had 27%, Elexie Moore, who had 23%, and Jessica Wright, who had 17%.
Sumner, who runs a home-building business, was first elected to the Legislature in 2022, after previously serving on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly.Asked if there were particular experiences in Juneau that affected his decision to drop out of the race, Sumner named Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a bipartisan bill that would have permanently increased public education funding for the first time in several years.
Sumner is one of a small handful of elected Republicans in the state who have openly supported Alaska’s ranked choice voting and open primary system, even as Alaska Republican Party leaders have openly stated their opposition to the voting reform that Alaskans adopted in 2020 and first used in 2022. “I think there’s been a lot of deadlock and partisan gridlock as a result of people always being motivated to have to be as conservative or as liberal as possible to win their partisan primary,” he said.
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