As of Tuesday, 92,845 ballots have been cast in the special primary election for the temporary U.S. Congress seat being contested by 48 candidates. That is an average of 1,240 votes per day coming into the Division of Elections over the past four days. Republican ballots are outpacing Democrat ballots 2.14-to-1. There are 11 days left before the election deadline. Rural turnout remains low.
Memorial Day observances: At the Anchorage Memorial Day event, we noted that U.S. House candidates Sarah Palin, Nick Begich, and Chris Constant were in attendance. Also we spotted U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka and her family. Above, Rep. Cathy Tilton, Kelly Tshibaka and Mayor Edna DeVries of the Mat-Su Borough and Mayor Glenda Ledford of Wasilla take part in the Memorial Day ceremony in the Valley.
In town, but missing: Al Gross for Congress was not spotted at any of the official events, but did have a private barbecue with some of his friends, including Alaska House candidate Andrew Gray and Alyse Galvin, both who are Democrats who are running for Alaska House seats.
At the Valley memorial event, there were many legislators in attendance, and Sen. Dan Sullivan spoke at that event, as well as at the Anchorage memorial event. Nick Begich was the only U.S. House candidate spotted.
Chesbro wants gun control: In the Anchorage Daily News, U.S. Senate candidate Pat Chesbro is preaching gun control: “In this month alone, we have seen two teens, barely old enough to vote, shoot more than 30 people, including children. I am outraged that, once again, elected leaders from the GOP are offering only thoughts and prayers while extolling the rights of gun owners to own any weapon they choose, even those whose sole purpose is to kill humans.”
This, she wrote, just before further condemning thoughts are prayers: “Thus far, thoughts and prayers have not ended school or grocery store or night club or movie theater shootings in this country. The United States has more mass shootings than any other country. There is no magic wand we can wave that would address these atrocities but doing nothing has certainly not worked. Defunding research around gun violence has not helped to inform us about ways to address both the violence and the reasons 18-year-old teenagers would commit these crimes.” Her op-ed continued the talking points of Democrats.
Note: The AR-15 is used by Alaska Natives in hunting seal and sea otter.
Filing photos: Forrest Dunbar, above, took a selfie as he filed for Alaska Senate, and Andrew Gray invited his family to join him as he filed to run for House District 20, Anchorage University district. So far, Dunbar is unopposed, as is Gray.
Also filing: Heather Herndon, who recently ran for mayor of Anchorage, has filed against State Sen. Tom Begich for Senate Seat I. Anchorage, Fairview, Government Hill, JBER, and Tikahtnu.
Palin loses in court: The judge in Sarah Palin’s libel case against The New York Times denied her request for a new trial, saying she had shown not “a speck” of evidence to indicate the newspaper acted in actual malice when it blamed her for mass shootings.
Palin also lost her bid to have the judge disqualify himself.
Door-knocking: Over 20 door knockers spent their weekend canvassing for Nick Begich in Anchorage, and over 50 are lining up to work the neighborhoods on Saturday on behalf of the group promoting Begich for Congress.
Revak wounded but fights on: All of Josh Revak’s ads for his House race involve his war injuries. Some of his digital ads show that the ad is sponsored by USO.org, which would be awkward and illegal. The sponsor message links to an article about Revak from 2016 at USO.org. Many of his fundraising emails begin with “Purple Heart recipient Josh Revak…”
He’s still in the race, but evidently Revak making other plans.
Big event for Nick: Over 100 co-hosts are hosting a fundraiser for Nick Begich, the biggest one in Anchorage yet. The event is June 9, and curiously, Art Hackney is noted as one of the co-hosts. He was formerly with the Revak campaign.
