As of Wednesday, 39% of Alaska Republican district committees have pledged their endorsements to Nick Begich for Congress.
No Republican district has endorsed Nancy Dahlstrom, showing Alaska’s Republican grassroots volunteers are saying they are not going to be told what to do by the governor.
The latest to endorse Nick Begich is District 14, a midtown Anchorage district. Nick was at the meeting on Wednesday evening and spoke and took questions for an hour. The district had attempted at least five times to get Dahlstrom to meet with members, participants said, but she ignored their requests.
Also going against the wishes of Gov. Mike Dunleavy are six of the seven Republican women’s clubs and both of the Alaska Young Republicans clubs. Nevertheless, Dahlstrom has D.C. money and is conducting an air bombing ad campaign for her candidacy, with ads running nonstop this week.
Nick Begich will be at the Alaska State Fair this weekend, spending much of his time at the booth of the MatSu Republican Women, who support him, as he reaches out to more Alaskans in his bid to unseat Rep. Mary Peltola, the Democrat.
The primary election ends Tuesday at 8 p.m.
After polls close, the Division of Elections will then count all ballots voted that day, along with all ballots that had been voted early and received and processed by the Division by close of business on Aug. 15.
The early ballots that are voted and submitted over this weekend will not be included in the first count but will be counted and included in subsequent counts. The second release of vote totals won’t come out until seven days after the election, according to the Division of Elections, which means a long wait for all candidates in competitive races.
Dahlstrom is in charge of the elections and also appears on the ballot. She has not committed to dropping from the race after the primary if she comes in second to Begich but says she will meet with the governor after the primary to discuss her future.