Alan Gross, who unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Dan Sullivan in 2020, has announced he will be a candidate in the special primary to replace the late Congressman Don Young.
Former State Sen. John Coghill of Fairbanks also made it official, signing up for the special primary for the congressional seat at the Division of Elections in Fairbanks.
Gross, who was raised in Juneau, is a Petersburg resident. He said in a press release he will also file for the full two-year seat. The filing deadline for the temporary seat is April 1, and several prominent Alaskans have indicated they are interested in running. That special election is set for June 11.
The top four vote-getters in the special primary election, which is a mail-in-only election, will appear on a ranked choice ballot at the same time as the regular primary election on Aug. 16.
Alaska has had a Republican representing them in the House of Representatives for 49 years, but with the death of Congressman Young, Democrats and undeclared Democrats like Gross are seeing an opportunity.
Gross, after losing his bid for Senate in 2020, went on to lose his bid to serve on the hospital board of his hometown clinic.
Read: Gross comes in fourth in election for Petersburg hospital board.
During his campaign for Senate, Gross was recorded telling a group of Democrats he leans left and would caucus with Democrats.
With massive resources behind him in 2020, Gross raised and spent $19,393,431, and independent groups such as the Lincoln Project spent tens of millions of dollars more. In the final count, 146,068 Alaskans voted for Gross, which puts him in a strong spot for this congressional race, almost assuring him a spot in the “Final Four.”
Republican frontrunner Nick Begich filed for the seat in October. His campaign has over $1 million in receipts since he filed.
The Democrats’ frontrunner Chris Constant, as well as Gregg Brelsford, William “Bill” Hibler III, Robert “Bob” Lyons, J.R. Myers and Stephen Wright have also filed. But with Gross in the race, it’s likely that Constant will lose some support. Politicos say that the Alaska Democratic Party is throwing its weight behind Gross, rather than Constant.
As for former Sen. Coghill, he is well-liked by many Republicans but would be starting his congressional career at the age of 75 and would not have a long runway to develop political seniority for Alaska, which has just one seat in the U.S. House.
Congressman Young died on March 18 on the way home to Alaska. He will lie in state at the Capitol on Tuesday.
Both a couple of losers! One, an opioid peddler who checks the rectal temperatures of sleeping bears. The other, a soft-on-crime, ousted legislator who thinks the PFD is best left in the hands of the disgraced, former governor Bill Walker. Two old farts who think they are still relevant with the voters. Deranged, deluded and DUMB!
Checks the rectal temp of sleeping bears? Let me guess, one is too hot, one is too cold, and one is just right.
Isn’t that what docs do? Check rectal temperatures? Kind of a Democrat thing too.
Democrats don’t use thermometers.
Amen
I would like to nominate Dunleavy as Congress and Tuckerman Babcock for Governor.
Coghill, the PHONY RINO who loves BIG GOVERNMENT
All you have to do is look at the mask wearer and that will tell you all you need to know. How is that face diaper conformity going to save you from your failures? Quit hiding behind it because you do not have a chance.
To this I agree completely!!!
This is just a ‘gross’ filling for either of these two guys..
Dumb and Dumber. LOL. Maybe Dumb should take Dumber out bear hunting.
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Good one, Ted. They should both wear masks and check each other’s full vaxx cards before pulling the trigger. Couple of morons.
Well, at least Coghill is an honest RINO unlike Revak.
Do neither of these two understand the results of their last election? No one is biting on the stinky bait either presents. Game over, move along and make way for someone who will work for the people.
Let the circus begin. More “bear doctor” commercials.
God spare us.
Wonder if the Gross one wears his face diaper while in the bear’s den? I can’t think of a more looney tunes candidate than pill-pusher Al.
I can’t wait for Al’s commercials with him on a brand new commercial fishing boat that he uses once or twice a year…oh wait I already saw that one.
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I just did a quick search to see that commercial again, because it let’s me Know Al is an Alaskan, funny thing is the New Jersey Globe, San Francisco Gate, and Buffalo News all knew about this announcement 5-6 hours ago. Al’s running to be the Congressman from NJ, SF, and Buffalo apparently.
Always pander to your biggest donors first.
Thank you Suzanne for these excellent articles. I look forward to reading them every day. Some of the comments are amusing depending on the article
Was it a malpractice suit that brought Mr. Gross’ career to a close?
And what might be the ultimate goal of a man proven to have such a difficult time telling the truth as displayed last time he tossed his name in the hat? Subversion of some sort no doubt as he’s already been weighed, measured, and found wanting.
Suzanne should run
Please spend another $19,393,431 on Gross. With zero chance of winning I think it is an excellent use of DNC money.
Say it’s not true!!! Look at that idiot in that silly mask. My dog had a seizure whenever he heard Al’s voice on TV. I don’t know if he will survive another round of AL Gross commercials.
Please, Gross Al, please keep that mask over your face, if for no other reason than to hide that giant schnoz of yours — especially when it starts growing, Pinocchio-style, as a result of your many campaign half-truths and outright lies.
Horseman of the Trojan Horse. Any of them Trumpians? NO! Don’t know what Republican stands for these days, except the Chamber of Commerce and pop culture.
Never made the mistake of voting for Gross. Did make that mistake once on Coghill. Won’t make it again.
Coghill is pretty dense. He just doesn’t get the message that the voters don’t want him anymore. A truck driver whipped his butt in his own Senate District in 2020. And Coghill thinks he can still run on his daddy’s name? A 75-year old man? Out of touch with reality.
Sadly, John appears to have cognitive issues and a false sense of mental well-being. All we need are more demented, old White guys in political office preaching wokeism. Most of them would be better off going to sleep……..permanently.
If Democrats have any brains, they will put their votes behind the known socialist sympathizer and RINO John Coghill
So Al… As a self proclaimed leftest that plans to run as an independent, does that make you a nihilist, or a satanists? Just curious after watching your very nasty last election campaign, who your master may be
Coghill was directly responsible for both making Alaskans poorer (SB-21) and allowing the criminals to run free (SB-91). SB-91 was Coghill’s legislation. It resulted in thousands and thousands of Alaskans being robbed, burgled, or physically assaulted by criminals. One story, out of thousands. A young person, just out of college and far from being wealthy, had her car windows broken by thieves when she parked at a mid town Anchorage hotel. The criminals, unhappy that the car had no valuable contents, slashed all four of her tires to “punish” her. She did not have the thousands of dollars needed to repair her car.
Coghill had his chance. Voters rejected- and replaced- him. Only the lobbyists will sing his praises.
The word needs to get out to every corner of the state that Al Gross pretends to be something he’s not. Regardless of party affiliation, he is not honest from the voters on where he stands, and that alone is reason not to vote for him. It would be the same if he was a pretend liberal who’s actually a right leaning pol. If he can’t be honest in the election, he won’t be honest in the seat.
I think some of thus far these comments are a gross understatement of what he stands for. Definitely not us.
With mail in ballots anything is possible here, further on add to that the Rigged Choice, err Ranked Choice ? voting algorithms… Don Young may be our last duly elected Representative.
How did we ever get into this mess? ?
Which way out?
Big Al’s just a cheap sideshow in what looks way too much like a grifters’ crime of historic proportions.
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All the chatter around ranked-choice voting means more than a few folks realized it’s only a computer-operated shell game run by gypsies who make the rules, run the computers, and pocket the profits.
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How productive Alaskan voters’ll defy, defeat, overcome this Gross abomination may not be clear right now
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… but that doesn’t mean they won’t figure out what props this nastiness up and how to chop it the hell -down-.
I would never vote for John Coghill again. And I will tell him that to his face next time I see him.
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