L is for ‘Loose’

SENATE RACE COULD BE A BOOZY-DOOZY IN SOUTH ANCHORAGE

With the entry of a caper-prone political entertainer into the Senate Seat L race, the front row seat in South Anchorage political theater may be the best one this season. Political junkies will want to grab the popcorn for the Senate Seat L race, which may look like a barroom brawl.

Two-time losing candidate Jeff Landfield is in one corner of the ring, making another jab to become an Alaska lawmaker as he runs against his nemesis Sen. Natasha von Imhof.

Since losing two-for-two, the man has established himself as the darling of the Left, who extracts funding from lobbyists and politicos in exchange for not writing what he knows about them. And he knows a lot. Landfield, (shown above left with Rep. Neal Foster and former Rep. Zach Fanlser) has run a hush-money business model that has sustained him for a few years. He’s now just burned his donors by releasing their names.

His party registration as a Republican has gotten him access to the right side of the fulcrum as well, as he ran an independent expenditure group for Sen. Josh Revak, and he’s also presented himself as a member of the press and attained Capitol press credentials, while his work as a blogger has earned him partnerships with the Anchorage Daily News, which has co-hosted campaign events with the blogger-politician.

But like Gov. Bill Walker, Landfield knows he can’t beat a credentialed Republican in the Republican Primary, so he has fashioned himself as a non-party candidate going straight to the General Election ballot. That means he’ll have to collect signatures on a petition; those petition names will be public.

Both Landfield and von Imhof have a strong distaste for each other, and it’s personal, as it so often is between Landfield and conservative women in politics. He has targeted her on his blog on several occasions.

Von Imhof ‘s colleagues in the Senate will be surprised at the list of financial supporters Landfield has amassed while working the halls of the Capitol. (Insiders commented to MRAK that there are several lobbyist names missing on his financial disclosure list.)

With all of his union support from AFL-CIO’s Vince Beltrami, and Alaska Public Employees Association, he’ll likely have enough to run a credible campaign, but von Imhof started out the year with over $82,000 in her campaign account, and she’ll be considered the more stable of the two by oddsmakers. Landfield, on the other hand, only netted $47,000 and change last year off his blog model.

Before she squares off against him in the General, von Imhof will need to win her primary against pastor and conservative Republican Steve DuPlantis on Aug. 18. DuPlantis ran in the Republican Primary for District 24 in 2018, but garnered less than 30 percent of the vote; Rep. Chuck Kopp won that contest and went on to win the General.

By the time fall rolls around, von Imhof will have stockpiled plenty of ammunition against Landfield — from his voluptuous near-nude, hotel room boy pics in Vegas to his speedo-booze-and-babes selfies and his barroom brawls-and-black-eyes in Juneau. She had some fun with him during their last match, but is more likely to take the gloves off this time around and has more to work with.

But in the General Election, it will be a three-choice ballot for Seat L voters: Also appearing on the November ballot will be Democrat Roselynn Cacy, who ran for the Seat L in 2016.

Landfield ran for Senate in 2012, and again in 2016, losing to Lesil McGuire in 2012 and von Imhof in 2016, taking less than 800 votes in the district’s primary.

If 2020 is anything like those years for this South Anchorage seat, the entertainment is just beginning.