Alaskans on primary day narrow governor’s race to final four, vote on campaign donation limits

Mark Sabbatini
1 day ago
2 min read

Updated: 21 hours ago

US Senate race in national spotlight as Trump targets incumbent’s namesake challenger; Juneau voters weigh in on two District 3 House candidates set to face off in November

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

With plenty of early votes already cast, Alaskans are heading to the polls for Tuesday’s primary election to narrow the races for governor, U.S. House and U.S. Senate to a general election field of four candidates each, as well as deciding a ballot measure ending unlimited campaign donations.

Polling locations are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. About 80 people had cast ballots as of 8:45 a.m. at the Juneau Precinct No. 2 at the State Office Building, said Ryan Wilson, the precinct’s chair.

"It’s been relatively slow," he said.

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The most significant outcomes of the primary for Juneau voters will be narrowing the 17-candidate field in an open governor’s race and Ballot Measure 1, which would prohibit individual political donors from giving a candidate more than $2,000 per election (and limiting groups to $4,000). There are 16 U.S. Senate and 15 U.S. House candidates, but the two main head-to-head challengers in each race are already established.

Both of the state House seats representing Juneau are on the ballot, but District 4 Democratic incumbent Sara Hannan is unopposed. In District 3, Democratic incumbent Andi Story and Republican challenger Annette Kreitzer will both advance to the Nov. 3 general election.

The U.S. Senate race is in the national spotlight on primary day, in part because it is considered a "toss up" between Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, but also because of namesake challenger Dan J. Sullivan’s presence on the ballot.

The New York Times published an in-depth multimedia feature at the top of its website Tuesday morning headlined "Searching for Answers From the Man Accused of Sabotaging Alaska’s Senate Race." President Donald Trump also put a spotlight on Dan J. Sullivan, a retired Petersburg teacher running as a Republican, by calling him an imposter supported by Democrats in a Truth Social media post.

The Alaska Division of Elections states the first partial and unofficial results will be available at its website about 9 p.m. Tuesday. Mailed ballots will be counted through Aug. 28, with a final unofficial tally that day and certified results expected by Aug. 31.

More than 31,000 Alaskans cast ballots prior to Tuesday, according to the elections division.

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.