Rep. Jesse Sumner of House District 28-Wasilla has dropped from the general election ballot. That leaves Elexie Moore, Steve Menard, and Jessica Wright as the three who will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
It has long been speculated that Sumner would not stay on the ballot, and recently when he came out in favor of ranked-choice voting, it made it more likely he did not intend to stay and was blocking for Menard to prevent a stronger candidate from getting in the race.
Sumner is a homebuilder, husband, and father. Being a legislator takes a toll on a young family, as the serving legislator can be away for months at a time. Observers have said it’s been hard on the Sumner family.
In the primary election, he received just short of 33% of the vote. Menard received 27.3%, Elexie Moore received 23.4% and Jessica Wright received 16.6%.
Sumner has only served one term in the Alaska Legislature. In 2022 when he ran, he was behind Menard in the jungle primary but went past him in the ranked-choice voting general election.
This news was first reported by Alaska Landmine political blog.
He was doomed when he supported RVC.
He won the primary convincingly days after that story was published, moron.
“Moron”? Are you incapable of putting forth your ideas without attacking people instead of their ideas?
And he’s right. He lost a lot of voters when he backed RCV, including my entire family.
Good!
Not good.
He never wanted to return to the legislature.
He will continue to ally with left wing causes in his next chapter just like he did with the Marxists on the Palmer City Council and the Democrats’ attempt to rewrite election laws in the legislature.
Ranked-Choice Voting was just his latest attempt to publicly align himself with the left.
When someone publicly advocates for left-wing city council members, left-wing legislation, left-wing election laws, and works with Democrats to try to expel conservative legislators out of the legislature and kick Republicans off the ballot don’t wait for them to declare themselves a Democrat.
There are nine Mat-Su legislators. There is not a single Democrat or Independent candidate running for the legislature in the Mat-Su Valley. All the Democrats are running as Republicans.
This is why there is a civil war within the party, not because the conservatives are “hard to work with”. Conservatives will always have a hard time supporting RINOs and the status quo in Juneau…it’s what makes them conservatives.
Well, I do not understand WHY he even ran if he did not want to return to the legislature. He has always aligned himself with the democrats – just as Wilson aligns himself with the left. As for the rest of the “Republicans” – some of us DO SEE those that are not truthfully representing the Constitution that they took an oath to represent and uphold. It is a shame that so many can see past the red herring actions that those “Republicans” throw out there to keep themselves in office.
Good riddance……..as a GOP’er he was a wolf in sheeps clothing……….
Stay strong David Eastman. Thanks for trying to guard the PFD, and doing the right thing. You are appreciated!
He is quoted as saying, “It would be a lot more productive for Republicans to try to encourage Republicans to use the ranked choice voting system”.
Of course he’s right. But that would require the Party to find good candidates, act strategically, and commit to the overall good of conservative political gain instead of infighting. But they can’t do that.
Ranked Choice Voting is bad for many reasons. One vote per person.
RCV was never a good policy for the voters. It gave the political hacks the ability to control election outcomes by controlling the candidates.