Major races unchanged as new batch of votes counted a week after primary election

Mark Sabbatini
3 hours ago
2 min read

Democrats JKT, Tom Begich top governor’s race, Bernadette Wilson top Republican ahead of Dave Bronson; Dan J. Sullivan will face incumbent namesake in US Senate race

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

This story originally reporting Tuesday night results has been updated with a vote count as of Wednesday morning.

An updated vote count with no notable changes in major races nonetheless made global headlines as retired Petersburg teacher Dan J. Sullivan was broadly declared a top-four finisher in the Aug. 18 primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by his namesake Dan S. Sullivan.

The declarations by the Associated Press and other news agencies aren’t official results, with the Alaska Division of Elections expected to provide a final count Friday that will be officially certified by Monday. But the most recent tally released Wednesday morning shows little change among the standings of candidates in major races since the initial Election Night counts.

Republican Dan J. Sullivan at 2.46% is far behind Republican incumbent Sen. Sullivan at 42.07% and Democratic challenger Mary Peltola who leads the race with 48.92%. But the Petersburg resident is far ahead of two candidates vying for the fourth spot — David B. Leslie at 1.10% and Gerald L. Heikes at 1.07%.

Tuesday night’s count includes 156,535 ballots representing 26.01% of Alaska’s 601,906 voters in 401 of 403 precincts.

The Senate race is attracting widespread attention because it may be decisive in determining which party controls the chamber during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. Republicans have accused Dan J. Sullivan of running a sham candidacy designed to confuse voters, which he has denied, and media reports about U.S. Department of Justice subpoenas in a grand jury investigation of him surfaced the day of the primary election.

Within Alaska, the primary’s biggest impact will be how it narrows the field of 17 candidates seeking to replace Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited.

Former Democratic legislators Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, with respective tallies of 22.22% and 20.53%, are far ahead of the field. Twelve Republican candidates have a combined total of over 50%, led by business owner Bernadette Wilson at 10.22% and former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson at 8.18%. The deadline for candidates to drop out of the race is Aug. 31 and contenders in each party have acknowledged discussions are taking place about forming alliances that will give them the best chance of prevailing in November.

In the race for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat, first-term Republican incumbent Nick Begich III with 45.26% remains far ahead of independent Bill Hill at 32.08%, although the latter has been endorsed by Democrat Matt Schultz who has 8.01% so far despite dropping out of the race. New York prison inmate Eric Hafner at 3.77% and John B. Williams at 2.66%, both Democrats, are third and fourth in the race as of Tuesday night,

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