Twenty-four days left in the regular primary election and the special general election to fill the remainder of Congressman Don Young’s term in office (until January). The long election season hits that speed bump on Aug. 16 on the way to the Nov. 8 general election.
Endorsements: Jim Jansen, CEO of Lynden, has jumped ship from Gov. Dunleavy, who he supported in 2018, and is now a co-chair for the Bill Walker for governor campaign. He is joined as co-chair by Jim Dodson of Fairbanks, Bruce Botelho, of Juneau, Mike Navarre of Kenai, and Meg Nordale of Fairbanks in the latest announcement of endorsements.
Charlie Hardesty of Cordova has endorsed Kelly Tshibaka for Senate.
BIPAC, known as the oldest business political action committee in America, endorsed Nick Begich III for House. The late Alaskan politico Scott Hawkins of Advanced Supply Chain International was the president of BIPAC until he died in 2019. Business-Industry Political Action Committee is a premier private sector political action group that has 7,000 companies in the group.
Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA fame endorsed Kelly Tshibaka for U.S. Senate.
Spotted: Nick Begich was in Delta Junction attending Deltana Days and had a meet-and-greet in the evening. He was on the Dave Pruhs radio show in Fairbanks and was featured speaker at Friday Republican luncheon in Fairbanks. He is running for Congress.
Mary Peltola was blueberry berry picking in Bethel last weekend, then to Anchorage for Black Caucus of the Alaska Democrats, and now up to Fairbanks. She is running for Congress, for the Democrats.
Bill Walker and Heidi Drygas, pictured above, running for governor and lite gov, were spotted in Bethel meeting with a modest group; they were with Val Davidson, who was the push behind the expansion of Obamacare in Alaska, was the commissioner of Health and Social Services under Walker, when he was governor, and was briefly the lieutenant governor when LG Byron Mallott suddenly resigned in disgrace.
Events: Americans for Prosperity Alaska will be doing a seminar on Aug. 4 for anyone who wants to learn about ranked choice voting, the confusing new voting system brought to Alaska by outsiders. Americans for Prosperity Alaska doesn’t support the new system but is determined to help people understand how to vote with it. It’s a nonpartisan event.
