Al Gross, running for Congress, once had the love of the Alaska Democratic Party. When he ran for Senate against Sen. Dan Sullivan in 2020, the Democrats even backed him, although he remained an undeclared candidate, which means he didn’t have an actual party. He convinced them that he would be their solid voice in the U.S. Senate, and they believed him. He was even caught on video saying that he leans left and would caucus with the Democrats.
But the honeymoon is over. The Alaska Democratic Party now calls him “a loser” who couldn’t even win a seat on his local Petersburg hospital board. The party is backing Democrat Chris Constant, who is the vice chair of the Anchorage Assembly.
This, in spite of the fact that Gross is all-in for abortion access. In a social media post last week, he wrote, “My mother Shari always reminds me that before Roe v. Wade women had to choose between the law and their lives. Monica and I refuse to allow our daughters to be forced to make the same life and death decisions.”
In a savage social media post on Monday, the party went even further as it dumped on Gross, saying that he’s not a Democrat “and he sure as hell doesn’t share your Democratic values, but pandering Al Gross still has the audacity to beg for your money after saying he’d caucus with Republicans…”
It’s exactly what the Sullivan campaign said about Gross in 2020 — that he would say anything to get elected. Their video showed a meeting that Gross had with the Democratic National Committee, where he admitted that although his values are to the left, he could never get elected as a Democrat.
Why would the Democrats all of a sudden turn on Al Gross? A poll by Ivan Moore at Alaska Survey Research tells the story. Conducted on behalf of Democrats over the past few days, the poll posed various combinations of candidates including, Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, Al Gross, Santa Claus, Mary Peltola, Chris Constant, Tara Sweeney, Josh Revak, Jeff Lowenfels, John Coghill, Andrew Halcro, and Adam Wool.
According to the poll, Al Gross is edging the Democrats out of the final four candidates to appear on the November ballot. Democrats may have supported a no-party candidate in the past, but not this year.
Some Democrats still admire the doctor from Juneau. Former Gov. Tony Knowles, for example, has endorsed him and is his campaign chair. Knowles was the last Democrat elected as governor, and he served for eight years.
