Alaska voters decide a hard-fought race for the state’s only U.S. House seat, election question

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska voters decided on Tuesday a hard-fought race for the state’s only U.S. House seat that could help determine control of that chamber. They also decided whether to repeal the state’s system of open primaries and ranked-choice general elections just four years after choosing to give that system a chance.

The Democratic US Rep. Mary Peltola tried to fend off GOP efforts to wrest back the seat that Republican Rep. Don Young had held for 49 years, who died in 2022. Peltola’s biggest challenger was Republican Nick Begichwho is from a family of prominent Democrats and was among the opponents she defeated in special and regular elections two years ago, when Peltola, who is Yup’ik, became the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

In addition to the repeal initiative, the ballot included a measure that would raise the state’s minimum wage and require paid sick leave for many employees, a measure opposed by groups including several chambers of commerce and an association of seafood processors.

Fifty of the legislature’s 60 seats were also up for election, with control of the state House and Senate up for grabs. The closely divided House has struggled to organize itself after the past three election cycles. In Alaskalegislators do not always organize themselves by party.

In Alaska’s House race, Peltola tried to distance herself from the president’s politics, refusing to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris and rejecting any weight an endorsement from her might have had in a state that last went for a Democratic presidential candidate in 1964. She threw herself even. as someone who was willing to work across party lines and played his part in getting the Biden administration to approve the massive Willow oil project, which enjoys broad political support in Alaska.

Begich, whose grandfather, the late Democrat Nick Begich, held the seat before Young, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump after his showing in the primary.

Trump’s first pick, Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, bowed to pressure from Republicans trying to consolidate behind one candidate after her third-place finish in the primary and dropped out. Alaska’s open primary allows the top four vote-getters to advance. The initial fourth-place finisher, Republican Matthew Salisbury, also dropped out, leaving Alaskan Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe and Eric Hafner, a Democrat with no apparent ties to the state who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for making threats against authorities and others in New York. Jersey, on the ballot.

Begich, the founder of a software development company, sought to cast Peltola as ineffective in stopping actions taken by the Biden administration that limited resource development in a state dependent on it, including the decision to cancel leases issued for oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Alaska is one of just two states to adopt ranked-choice voting — and would be the first to repeal it if the ballot initiative succeeds. In 2020, Alaskans narrowly voted to scrap party primaries in favor of open primaries and ranked general elections. Most registered voters in Alaska are not affiliated with a party, and the new system was cast as a way to give voters more choices and bring moderation to the election process. However, critics called it confusing.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a moderate Republican and Trump critic who has been at odds with party leaders, appeared in an ad in support of keeping open primaries and ranked-choice voting.

Opponents of the system managed to get enough signatures to qualify the repeal measure for the ballot — and withstood a months-long legal battle to keep it on the ballot. Begich was among those who supported the repeal, and the state Republican Party has also supported repeal efforts.

Becky Bohrer, Associated Press