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.
