Conservative voters poured to the polls on Tuesday and gave Mike Dunleavy a resounding victory against Democrat Mark Begich. Dunleavy will become Alaska’s next governor, to be sworn in on Dec. 3.
By Wednesday morning, Dunleavy and his running mate Kevin Meyer were 9 points ahead of Begich, 52.4-43.6, with 98 percent of the vote counted.
Winning over 50 percent of the vote in a race with four names to choose from is strong. Mandate strong.
Sarah Palin won with 48.3 percent in 2006, while Sean Parnell won with 59.1 percent in 2010, and Bill Walker won with 48.1 percent in 2014.
Walker, the current governor, won nearly 2 percent of the vote this time around. He withdrew from the race in mid-October. Libertarian Billy Toien won under 2 percent.
Don Young, the Dean of the House, vanquished challenger Alyse Galvin, who ran in the Democrats’ primary. Young, who is 85, has served in the House since 1973 and is the longest-serving current House member. He won 54-46 at latest count.
Ballot Measure 1 also failed decisively, 64-36.
“Today Alaskan voters made the right choice to protect our jobs, our economy and our communities,” Stand for Alaska Vote No on 1 campaign manager Kati Capozzi said. “Ballot Measure 1 was a radical overhaul of our salmon habitat protections. Voters today showed they believe our current regulations have served to protect our habitat and allow for responsible development.”
“Alaskans have sent a clear message to the global investment community that the state has high standards for development and promotes a fair process for determining if potential projects in Alaska such as Pebble can meetthose standards,” said Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier. “The outgoing administration would not publicly stand up for its robust regulatory and permitting system. In governor-elect Dunleavy, we will have a strong, fair leader for Alaska who recognizes that a level playing field for all projects is in the best interests of Alaska and an important step in attracting investment for Alaska’s economy. We look forward to working with him.”
SNAPSHOT OF RACES
Fairbanks: Sen. Pete Kelly, the Republican, is in the closest of races against Democrat Scott Kawasaki, who left his seat in the House to challenge Kelly. The race is just 11 votes in Kelly’s favor, which will likely change as more absentee votes come in.
Bart LeBon, a Republican, edged Kathryn Dodge, 51-49 for Kawasaki’s House Seat 1.
Rep. Steve Thompson, a Republican, was easily reelected to House Seat 2.
Democrat Grier Hopkins won District 4 over Jim Sackett, 51-44. That was an open seat.
Democrat Rep. Adam Wool won over Kevin McKinley, in District 5, 53-47.
Republican Rep. Dave Talerico won over Ed Alexander in District 6, 63-37.
Interior: Republican George Rauscher won District 9 with 69 percent of the vote.
Valley: Republican Rep. David Eastman easily fended off petition candidate Doyle Holmes, winning 57.77 percent of the vote.
Republican Rep. DeLena Johnson of Palmer District 11 won with nearly 73 percent.
Republican Rep. Cathy Tilton took 76 percent of the vote for District 12.
Republican Nancy Dahlstrom took 71.57 percent of the vote for District 13, Eagle River.
Republican Kelly Merrick won 66 percent in Eagle River, and will be replacing Rep. Lora Reinbold, who went to the Senate.
Anchorage: Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux won with the least amount of votes of any winning candidate, just 40 percent. Write-in candidate Jake Sloan drained off nearly 26 percent and Democrat Lyn Franks got 34 percent.
In House District 22, Sara Rasmussen upset Rep. Jason Grenn, who was a no-party candidate. She won 47-41, with Democrat Dustin Darden skimming off 11.6 percent.
In House District 25, Josh Revak won over Pat Higgins, 52.3 to 47.5, despite a last minute smear mailer by the Higgins camp.
In House District 27, Rep. Lance Pruitt hung on to his House seat with over 51 percent.
Juneau: The Capital City will continue to be represented by all Democrats, with Jesse Kiehl winning for Senate Seat Q, and Sara Hannan winning the valley seat 33, with Andi Story winning in District 34.
Homer: House District 31 went to Sarah Vance, who upset the incumbent Rep. Paul Seaton. She took 58.5 percent of the vote, administering a lower-Peninsula spanking to long-time House member Paul Seaton.
Judge Michael Corey was not retained by voters.
This story will be updated.
Suzanne, no background or mention of Cathy Tilton’s race? Upset?
Republican Rep. Cathy Tilton took 76 percent of the vote for District 12.
I laugh at how the MSM doesn’t want to declare Dunleavy the winner, even though he clearly has a commanding lead with 100% of the vote in. The media is a flipping joke!
How long has Juneau been run by Democrats? I’m glad I found this out, i’d hate to waste my hard earned dollars visiting that hell hole.
Go figure. I opened the newspaper this morning and a long-winded letter appeared in the editorial page. It’s author……Bill Walker. He leaves to Mike Dunleavy a four-point instruction manual on how to be a successful governor. Walker opines on “building bridges” and “protecting children.”
Walker should have written the letter to himself in 2014 and made it his new years resolution. Then, made a copy for Byron Mallot and circled the “protect children” language. What a joke. There’s still nothing like being lectured to by a person who failed in all areas that he pretends to be an expert in. Delusional meglamania!
I could not find better words that better describe Bill Walker. The mess he leaves behind is over the top, compared to what Sean Parnell left. Fact is in the weeks, months and years ahead, ask yourself what did Bill Walker leave his name on for the past 4 years. I’m trying very hard to be as honest as possible here. Bill is by far the worst Governor of my lifetime in this state. Mike Dunleavy has a hell of a mess to clean up, but have faith. He is going to surpass our expectations.
Nice job, everyone. The nightmare Walker years will soon be an unpleasant memory.
There’s nothing like writing an election post-mortem about yourself, after you lose. And make no mistake, Walker LOST.
I am very happy that Mike won and that the voters responded to the traitorous 3 R’s and Jason Grenn. Hopefully the House will now organize under Republican control. BUT I am very concerned about the responsibility that comes with that power and the ability to perform on all these “promises”.
In this campaign we saw again how the Dividend deeply corrupts our elections (from all candidates).
There is no hope of resolving our budget problems without reforming or ending the Dividend.
Oh, and could someone explain why the constitutional requirement to re-pay the CBR is never mentioned? The argument that there are no “surplus funds” (article 9, para 17) seems thinner than ever.
I’m sorely disappointed in the AK Republican party and it’s ignoring the District 23 race. Yes, Chris Tuck has been around for several elections and yes he was the Majority Leader in the last session. However, there was a grassroots candidate in Connie Daughtry who came out against Tuck, and ran a campaign on a shoestring budget. Her only advertising was with signs late in the campaign, Facebook posts and a few meet and greets at a local watering hole. She sent out an impassioned letter during the week before the election, but, name recognition is the game. She needed more of it.
I for one do not like the trend of the AK Republican party seemingly giving up on Anchorage. The blue creep is moving further south in Anchorage all the time. We see it in the Assembly and it’s nearly taken over the House and Senate. Please AK Republican party, get some of these districts back in 2020.
Thank you Suzanne for your articles. I just discovered you about 1 month ago. I dropped the Newsminer several years ago because of their bias reporting. Thank You!
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