Although Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux won the Primary Election on Aug. 21, she’s not out of the woods yet in her quest for reelection to House District 15.
Jake Sloan this afternoon announced he is running as a write-in Republican candidate. He made the announcement at a park in Muldoon, while his children played on the equipment at the park.
Sloan is 39. He was born in Seattle, but spent his early formative years in Nepal, where his parents were serving as missionaries.
The family moved to Alaska and settled in Talkeetna, where Sloan continued his schooling.
Sloan graduated from Mat-Su Valley High in 1997, and works as a contractor. He and his family have lived in the East Anchorage district for five years. Married and the father of three children, Sloan has also served as a pastor and worked with ministries and churches in the area.
“I’m running because the people of Muldoon and East Anchorage deserve better — an honest candidate who will really represent the people of the district and not her own political ambitions or special interests,” he said, referring to LeDoux, whose primary win is under a cloud after many instances of fraudulent votes were discovered and linked to her.
LeDoux’s election to the General Election ballot is likely to be (MRAK will update) certified today with the rest of the 39 district certifications, but it is now under investigation. after the Division of Elections discovered that seven requests in the name of dead people had been made for absentee ballots, and that people submitting absentee ballots for LeDoux were not living in the district.
LeDoux left the state shortly after the election. Charlie Chang, the man whom she paid over $10,000 to work on her absentee ballots lives in California, where he is a Democrat.
Aaron Weaver, a videographer who lives in the district, had filed for the Primary Election against LeDoux. Although he never mounted an active campaign, he said today that his goal had always been to give people at least some kind of alternative to LeDoux on the Republican ballot. He was surprised on election night when he actually pulled ahead of LeDoux by three votes. She had, however, worked the absentee ballots hard, and pulled ahead after the absentees started coming in.
Lyn Franks, a hardline Democrat, is also in the race. Republican analysts told Must Read Alaska that without Jake Sloan in the race, Franks would win, even though she is on the steering committee of the radical group, March on Alaska, and is an active member and volunteer for the Alaska Center (for the Environment), which has endorsed Mark Begich for governor.
LeDoux has become so toxic to donors, volunteers, and voters, that her core supporters may find it hard to muster the support she needs to be a competitive candidate. She was also asked to leave the Alaska Republican Party last year, when the party voted to sanction her due to the role she has played in putting the Democrats in charge of the House.
[Read: LeDoux extends her lead; will state certify fraudulent election?]