Fourth Republican district passes ‘drop if not on top’ resolution regarding congressional race

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Alaska House District 6 and 29 Republicans, located in conservative Lower Kenai and in Wasilla-Sutton, have joined two other Republican district committees in passing resolutions stating that after the primary election on Aug. 20, only the top vote-winning Republican candidate for Congress should proceed to the November ballot. Second, third, and fourth place Republicans should drop by Sept. 2.

Candidate Nick Begich, who has been through a tough ranked-choice voting process in 2022, is the only Republican who has made that commitment so far. Nancy Dahlstrom has refused to say if she will drop if she loses to Begich.

District 13 and District 25 Republicans have passed resolutions that ask candidates to “drop, if not on top.” All four districts are among the dozen that have endorsed Nick Begich.

The resolutions from District 29 and District 6 say, in part, that many Alaskans refuse to take part in ranked-choice voting, and only want to vote for one candidate. Having more than one Republican candidate on the ballot in the November general election “has the potential to dilute the vote and forfeit the election to a candidate other than a Republican.

The resolutions state, “at lease one Republican candidate has publicly declared his willingness to withdraw from the race if he is not the Republican who garners the most votes in the Primary Election.” That’s Nick Begich.

The districts are directly speaking to the other three Republicans, including Dahlstrom.

Districts that have announced their endorsement for Begich now include 1, 6, 8, 17, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 33, 34, and 36. 

Also, six of seven Alaska Republican women’s clubs and both of the Young Republican clubs endorsed Begich.

The Alaska primary elections used to allow Republicans to hold their own primary with a ballot open to Republicans and anyone else not signed up with an official party. But in 2020, Ballot Measure 2, backed by dark money from the New Venture Fund, passed the voters. This took away the Republican primary and created a system by which all candidates are on the same ballot.

There are 12 candidates competing for Congress and the top four will proceed to the general election, where voters are then instructed to rank them in the order of their preference. Through a tabulation system that depends on machines, the lowest voted candidate gets tossed and his ballot is awarded to whomever was the voters’ second choice.

The process of reassigning ballots in this way means that those who only vote for one candidate might have their ballot counted only once, if their candidate is not the winner, while people who rank may have their ballots counted as many as three times until their ballot joins the others for the winning candidate.

Many Republicans oppose this system and a great number refuse to participate in ranking, preferring to state their one choice and then cast their ballot.

25 COMMENTS

  1. Why don’t all the Republican districts in Alaska have the central Republican party write Dahlstrom a letter immediately and ask her to drop? Pin this selfish woman down. Few care much for her anyway. She’s a huge impediment in getting our congressional seat back into Republican hands.

    • “Why don’t all the Republican districts in Alaska have the central Republican party write Dahlstrom a letter immediately and ask her to drop?………”
      Before the primary election? Why? So Begich doesn’t lose yet another primary?

    • It won’t happen, Ted. Dahlstrom is waiting to see if she has a prayer with RCV. Answer: No, she doesn’t because Begich is going to clean her out in the primary. Then, Nancy will foul-up the works in the general and Peltola gets back in. So, Dahlstrom’s back-up plan is to become governor, IF Trump wins and he appoints Dunleavy to Secretary of Interior. Dahlstrom wants it both ways. And she is such a selfish b*tch that she could care less about Begich having a shot at the congressional seat. The Alaska Republican Party should blackball Nancy Dahlstrom. She was much nicer while working in jail. It’s where she belongs.

    • While I agree with you could i6 be because of the endorsement from President Trump? Wondering. Also have any districts endorsed Dahlstrom?

    • Alaska U.S. getting screwed – pasted from another thread:

      It’s Nancy Dahlstrom’s job, but she’s too busy trying to get Alaska’s congressional seat. Here’s how this year’s Alaska election is supposed to unfold, according to the secret, willfully conduct of Mike Dunleavy:

      Trump wants Dunleavy as his Secretary of Interior in order to open up oil and gas lands in Alaska and other states. That would elevate Nancy Dahlstrom to the Governor’s Office. But Dunleavy thinks Nancy is better in Congress, so he gets Trump to campaign for Dahlstrom in the hopes that Dahlstrom can beat Nick Begich in the Primary, then Nick signs out from the General as he promised. Then, Dahlstrom has a fair shot at taking out Mary Peltola with Begich out of the way.

      If Trump wins, and Dahlstrom wins,
      Dunleavy will first appoint a new Lt. Governor,
      much like Bill Walker did when Byron Mallott resigned in 2018. Valerie Davidson, who was Walker’s Commissioner of Health and Social services became Lt. Governor for a few short weeks.

      Dunleavy would appoint his little known Alaska Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson to the Lt. Governor’s seat. After Dunleavy departs for his new job as Secretary of Interior, Ryan Anderson moves quickly into the Governor’s seat.

      That’s the Dunleavy game plan. And that’s the reason Nancy Dahlstrom is still going to hang in there without agreeing to drop out of the Primary. Nancy gets access to Trump, and money, for her campaign, Dunleavy moves to DC, and a virtual nobody named Ryan Anderson, who is Mike Dunleavy’s best friend, becomes governor.

      So, who can stop Dunleavy’s scheme?
      Nick Begich III, and all of his supporters.

  2. Nancy should get out period. everything coming out about election issues from ballots not available to non citizens being able to vote in Alaska. Elections is her job. She’s suppose to be spending her time working on elections, and voter rolls, not campaigning for another job. If she can’t do the job at hand, she won’t be able to do the job in DC.

  3. nancy dahlstrom doesn’t care about alaskans or the election process. she only wants to further her career and is being helped by mike dunleavy, who also doesn’t care about alaskans and wants to further his career. 2 politicians paid for by DC—-sleezy

  4. Why should a second place Republican finisher in the primary drop out in a ranked choice general election? The only possible reason is because Republicans and conservatives are too stupid/arrogant/hateful/resentful/immature to rank the Republicans/conservatives who are on the ballot. Indeed, they proved that in 2022, they’re on track to repeat that performance in 2024, and that is precisely why Kendall/Murkowski created RCV. A repeat performance in 2024 is precisely what us needed to prove this theory, and it appears inevitable.

    • Yep. RCV was created for Lisa Murkowski so that she wouldn’t have to run in a primary race, where she would be beat. Scott Kendall likes Lisa as a Democrat, and that’s where Lisa belongs. Let the Republican Party choose their own candidate, just like the Democrat Party chooses their own candidate for president, while bumping off Biden from the Primary.

      • “………Let the Republican Party choose their own candidate………”
        I agree that a political party should have the right to choose its candidate independent of interference or even input from non-party members. That means “closed primary”. But Kendall/Murkowski and the Alaskan voting public have destroyed that right. I oppose our RCV voting scheme, along with all the other “voting reforms” of the past few years. I will vote to repeal RCV this fall. But my point remains: Republicans/conservatives PROVED their stupidity in the 2022 election for U.S. Congress, they appear to be headed for an identical loss for the exact same reason, and we will see if that is proven again in November.

  5. In districts where rinos run this will virtually guarantee they win. Take Eagle River and Kelly Merrick for example, she would likely get the most first place votes and if all other Republicans drop out then you’ve now effectively elected a rino…not such a great plan.

    Also remember that unless a candidate drops out after a certain date that the person with the next highest vote total moves up into fourth place.

    As wrong and dumb as rank voting is, you better be sure that this scheme to avoid rank voting isn’t worse than counting to 4, or 3, or 2.

    • “………In districts where rinos run this will virtually guarantee they win……..”
      This was precisely why RCV was created, and I suspect that it is also why it is here to stay. It is a weapon to put down conservatives. Too bad it won’t work against the left wingers in the Democrat Party.

  6. Why should Dahlstrom drop out? She has endorsements from Trump and Dunleavy and has the name recognition of being the sitting Lt Gov

    Just because so many of you are enamored with NBIII does not make her less of a viable candidate.

    The election is RCV, it gives you a chance to RANK your choices by preference. Rank NBIII 1 and Dahlstrom 2 and don’t rank Peltola at all. Problem solved.

    Or do like the 2022 election and only vote for one and let Peltola win.

    It ain’t that hard

    • anchorage voter
      she should drop out because
      1. its a conflict of interest for her. she’s the lt gov in charge of elections
      2. she ran for lt gov and not even year into her job she decides to run for another seat while using tax payer dollars to promote her name
      3. as lt gov her job is to clean up voter rolls which she won’t acknowledge is a problem
      4. she refuses to resign from her current job which she isn’t interested in doing
      5. she’s almost 70 yrs old. we don’t need what happened in 2022 to happen again

      • “……..its a conflict of interest for her. she’s the lt gov in charge of elections……..”
        Do you have any grasp of history or Alaska’s Constitution with regard to all the previous Lieutenant Governors who have run for governor?

  7. For some reason there are lots of supposed conservatives calling to use a play out of the Democratic playbook in the way that the Biden reelection and his subsequent removal from his reelection was handled.

    Why does anyone think that in the Constitutional Republic that we live in we should only have one choice to chose from when it comes to our elected representative? Doesn’t really meet the definition of an elected representative if there’s no choice in the chosing.

    • “……….Why does anyone think that in the Constitutional Republic that we live in we should only have one choice to chose from when it comes to our elected representative?……..”
      Because we’re filled with tyrants just like every other human organization.

  8. Everyone needs to review Dahlstrom’s scorecard. She is not for the people – she has got to be working for the deep state.
    2024-Primary-Election-Voter-Guide-SW-All-Respondents
    ‘https://akvoter.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-Primary-Election-Voter-Guide-SW-All-Respondents_2061705295.pdf

  9. Anyone else have trouble getting sample ballot for their district from Nancy’s div election webpage?

    I’m all for choices in the primary, then only one per party. (It’s still a 2-party world)

    Drop if not the Top.

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