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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