As of Tuesday, about 58,000 of the ballots in the special election primary for Congress had been voted and turned into the Division of Elections. That’s about 40% of the high end of the “expected vote” in this election, but with a mail-in election and a short campaign season, it’s still anyone’s guess, as Alaskans begin the process of replacing their congressional representative.
Political family splits: Mark Begich, former mayor of Anchorage, former U.S. senator, and now businessman, has endorsed Chris Constant for Congress, even though his nephew, Nick Begich, is running for the same seat. Constant is a Democrat, like Mark. Some thanks Nick gets for having provided capital for his business ventures. (Corrected).
On the air: Tara Sweeney, running for Congress is making her move in media. Her campaign and the independent expenditure group supporting her just bought over $80,000 in broadcast ad buys for messaging from May 17 through May 26, which means it will be the Tara show on the airwaves. Carpet bombing.
Halcro on Twitter: Andrew Halcro, running for Congress, is running a series of ads on social media that look like they were done by Fivrr, the overseas design shop that lets you have graphics built on the cheap offshore. His latest is a cartoon video showing he supports Lisa Murkowski, LGBTQ, Abortion, and that he believes climate change is real and supports gun rights. It’s the kind of production that might cost him $200 to have produced. The whole campaign is beginning to look like a marketing venture for something else Halcro is doing in the future. He doesn’t use legal disclaimers on his ad, per FEC.
Sealaska pulls the race card: Vote for a Native, Sealaska says in its recent message to Alaska Natives. “Let’s send one of our own,” is how the corporation puts it. Imagine if the Daughters of the American Revolution or garden variety “white person” wrote such a thing.
The known Alaska Natives running for Congress are Mary Peltola, Emil Notti, and Tara Sweeney — none are Sealaska shareholders.
Palin fundraisers in Florida, Georgia: Sarah Palin is raising funds in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and Savannah, Georgia this week, with former Gov. David Perdue.
Les Gara barbecue: Running for governor, Les Gara says he is the only pro-choice candidate. Special guests Vic Fischer and Jane Angvik and music by Hannah Yoter are notable for this downtown Anchorage event. Downtown Anchorage is Gara Country. No word on what they are barbecuing but surely it will be a carbon neutral event. Maybe Les is going to clean out his freezer full of last summer’s salmon.
