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In Homer, an election watch party cheers Vance on election night

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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In Homer, an election watch party cheers Vance on election night

By CASSIE LAWVER

Rep. Sarah Vance’s election watch party at Land’s End in Homer was the place to be on Tuesday night after a long and contentious election season. Jon Faulkner, owner of Land’s End Resort, had set up a huge screen in the dining area, and on the screen was a board of OAN national elections results and Must Read Alaska live election programming from Anchorage.

George Hall provided music, and more than 75 people enjoyed the food prepared by the staff at Land’s End.  

After the first results for House District 31 appeared, Vance stood at the microphone as the cheering crowd welcomed their representative and saw the numbers going in her favor. 

Vance thanked everyone for stopping by and spending a few hours with her and her family as the results came in. She said that it was an honor to represent District 31. Then, she made her way around the room, personally thanking people for coming.  

When the second round of results came out, the excitement in the room could be felt, as Sarah was leading 69% to Kelly Cooper’s 30%, with 3 precincts reporting.  When someone in the room rose to update everyone on the presidential race, the crowd erupted every time he said President Trump had won a state. 

There were groups of people following the US Senate and House race as well as the Ballot Measures on their own computers and smart phones.  The energy in the room was positive and healthy with people laughing and enjoying each other’s company and satisfying results.  

By 10:30 pm there were still nearly 50 people and when when a third round of results come in with 5 precincts reporting, Vance was leading 72% to Coopers 27%.  The crowd was ecstatic. 

A dozen people remained after 11 pm as the hard working crew at Land’s End put away tables and the big screen.  The results were unchanged. There were smiles and laughter as people were saying goodbye. Many were saying the numbers will hold, as others said they will be praying.

By the numbers: Alaska’s Red wave is largest in history this century

Suzanne Downing
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By the numbers: Alaska’s Red wave is largest in history this century

Tuesday was huge night for Republicans and conservatives in Alaska. We have early numbers and analysis:

  • President Trump won Alaska by 63%. In 2016, he won by 51%.
  • Sen. Dan Sullivan won by 63%.  In 2014 he won by 48%.
  • Congressman Don Young won by 63%. In 2018 he won by 53%.

Voters voted a straight ticket at the top of the ballot especially — Dan Sullivan received the most votes of any candidate in Alaska in 2020, but all three winners were in the 108,000+ range on Election Night.

Trump / Pence – 108,231 
Biden / Harris – 56,849

Dan Sullivan – 108,488
Al Gross – 54,755

Don Young – 108,473
Alyse Galvin – 62,385

Ballot Measure 1 – oil tax
No – 109,097 – solid loss for sponsor Robin Brena
Yes – 59,164

Ballot Measure 2 – ranked choice voting.
No – 95,330 13.8 percent lead
Yes – 72,454 – Outside billionaires need nearly a 40 percent swing in the remaining votes in order to win. Statistically very unlikely to overcome.

Senate and House results

Observation: Republicans won 9 seats in the Senate and 28 in the House on Election Day and early voting. Absentees could carve off some of these, but solid results for conservatives, nonetheless:

Senate Seat B
Rob Myers – 7,730 – R
Marna Sanford – 3,572

Senate Seat D
David Wilson – 8,785 – R
Thomas Lamb – 1,360
James Mayfield – 1,653

Senate Seat F
Shelley Hughes – 10,120 – R
Jim Cooper – 2,271

Senate Seat H
Madeleine Gaiser – 2,991 – R
Bill Wielechowski – 2,784

Senate Seat L
Natasha von Imhof – 6,339 – R
Roselynn Casy – 2,905

Senate Seat M
Josh Revak – 6,555 – R
Andy Holleman – 3,079

Senate Seat N
Roger Holland – 6,682 – R
 Carl Johnson – 3,737

Senate Seat P
Gary Stevens – 3,667 – R
Greg Madden – 2,394

House District 1
Bart LeBon – 2,545 – R
Christopher Quist – 1,614

House District 2
Steve Thompson – 2,490 – R
Jeremiah Youmans – 785

House District 3
Mike Prax – 5,101 – R

House District 4
Keith Kurber – 3,415 – R
Grier Hopkins – 2,958

House District 5
Kevin McKinley – 2,824 – R
Adam Wool – 2,353

House District 6
Mike Cronk – 3,184 – R
Julie Hnilnicka – 1,378
Elijah Verhagen – 493

House District 7
Christopher Kurka – 4,418 – R
Jamin Burton – 1,208

House District 8
Kevin McCabe – 5,470 – R
Alma Hartley – 886

House District 9
George Rauscher – 4,453 – R
Bill Johnson – 1,114

House District 10
David Eastman – 5,152 – R
Monica Stein-Olson – 1,149

House District 11
DeLena Johnson – 5,207 – R
Andrea Hackbarth – 1,377

House District 12
Cathy Tilton – 5,752 – R

House District 13
Ken McCarty – 2,450 – R
James Canitz – 665

House District 14
Kelly Merrick – 3,263 – R
Mike Risinger – 623

House District 15
David Nelson – 1,411 – R
Lyn Franks – 1,022

House District 16
Paul Bauer – 1,721 – R
Ivy Spohnholz – 1,319

House District 17
Andy Josephson – 2,145 – D

House District 18
Harriet Drummond – 2,279 – D

House District 19
Geran Tarr – 1,916 – D

House District 20
Zack Fields – 2,075 – D

House District 21
Lynette Largent – 1,946 – R
Matt Claman – 1,869 (since publication, Claman has pulled ahead when final Election Day votes were tallied on Nov. 4).

House District 22
Sara Rasmussen – 3,158 – R
Stephen Trimble – 1,144

House District 23
Kathy Henslee – 2,136 – R
Chris Tuck – 1,587

House District 24
Tom McKay – 3,584 – R
Sue Levi – 1,718

House District 25
Mel Gillis – 2,794 – R
Cal Schrage – 1,963

House District 26
Laddie Shaw – 4,290 – R

House District 27
Lance Pruitt – 2,926 – R
Liz Snyder – 1,834

House District 28
James Kaufman – 3,837 – R
Suzanne LaFrance – 2,209

House District 29
Ben Carpenter – 2,453 – R
Paul Dale – 847

House District 30
Ron Gillham – 1,051 – R
James Baisden – 516

House District 31
Sarah Vance – 2,678 – R
Kelly Cooper – 1,281

House District 32
Louise Stutes – 1,953 – R

House District 33
Sara Hannan – 3,663 – D

House District 34
Andy Story – 2,934 – D
Ed King – 2,211

House District 35
Kenny Skaflestad – 2,063 – R
Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins – 1,912

House District 36
Dan Ortiz – 2,805 – D
Leslie Becker – 2,214

House District 37
Bryce Edgmon – 624 – D

House District 38
Tiffany Zulkosky – 764 – D
Willy Keppel – 502

House District 39
Neal Foster – 1,834 – D
Dan Holmes – 573

House District 40
Josiah Patkotak – 1,342 – I
Elizabeth Ferguson – 678 -D

Not a single Republican incumbent was defeated.  Republicans held all 10 open seats.

Five Democrat incumbents — Grier Hopkins, Adam Wool, Ivy Spohnholz, Chris Tuck and Jonathon Kriess-Tomkins — were defeated on Election Day. Claman and Kreiss-Tomkins may be able to claw back enough votes in absentees to recover their seats.

There are still over 125,000 votes to count and some results may change.

But on Nov. 3, in Alaska, 2020, the people voted for the largest Republican victory in this century.

After unprecedented Election Day, Alaska’s energy community waits for results

Suzanne Downing
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After unprecedented Election Day, Alaska’s energy community waits for results

By RICK WHITBECK

Well, at least the dozens of political mailers, robocalls and omnipresent media blasts are in the rearview mirror, Alaska.

Now, we can only wait for results, and realize the ultimate outcome will launch Alaska’s energy community down one of two paths.

The first, under four more years of President Trump’s leadership, will continue the move toward American energy independence for oil, gas and minerals.  It will continue to employ tens of thousands of Alaskans in jobs that have shaped this great state (and have been around – in some cases – for multiple generations).

The first will still lead to changes, as an increased push for renewable energy will shape future policy.  Those discussions – and actions taken slowly and with diligence – should lead to increased opportunities for Alaskans, as Americans realize that critical minerals and rare earths should come from American mines, and not be imported – and therefore controlled – by Communist China. 

The second path, under a Biden administration, will be shaped and driven by the radical environmental movement.  Immediate impacts on traditional energy workers will be felt.  The eco-extremists won’t care that Alaska gets 67% of its private-sector state revenues from oil and gas.  Those are “bad” and must be replaced by “green” energy as quickly as possible; workers and their families be damned.

The second will be driven by radicals on dubious topics including climate change, environmental justice and a “just transition”. These won’t be debated, because to do so would allow for disparate opinions that have no place in the movement.

The second will put immense amounts of pressure on Alaskan families, who will face uncertain futures for the jobs and careers they have enjoyed until now.

As Alaska energy workers go to bed tonight, many will be praying with their families for patience, peace, strength and hope.  

Once we have the same level of clarity on yesterday’s results, the paths forward are clear.  Let’s hope Americans chose the correct one.

Rick Whitbeck is Alaska state director for Power the Future.

Gross supporters have a parting gift for Sullivan campaign

Suzanne Downing
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Gross supporters have a parting gift for Sullivan campaign

Gross supporters closed the campaign cycle out on Monday night by smashing a campaign sign at the Sullivan campaign headquarters and breaking the window of a vehicle.

Most of the campaign volunteers had left the building already, and it’s believed the destruction happened around 9:45-10 pm. Police were notified.

Sullivan campaign headquarters sign destroyed Monday night, along with vehicle window that was smashed.

It’s not the first time the Left has committed violence against the Sullivan campaign.

In July at the launch of the Sullivan campaign in Anchorage, radicals bum-rushed the stage and physically assaulted Sullivan’s campaign staff, and shoved a bloody pice of caribou heart at the senator and his wife.

The Sullivan campaign has had dozens of campaign signs destroyed this season, according to a campaign staffer.

Protesters rush stage with bloody caribou heart during Sen. Sullivan meet-and-greet

Red mirage or blue delusion?

Suzanne Downing
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Red mirage or blue delusion?

Much has been made by the media about the fact that Republican votes will tip the Election Night results to the win column, but only momentarily. It will be a mirage, the media says, because the Democrats are all voting via absentee ballot this year. And those ballots get counted later in most places.

The “red mirage” is how Democrats have framed the expected turnout, and the media is repeating the theme.

But the mirage theory may be just that — a mirage. If enthusiasm could be measured, it’s apparent that the advantage belongs to President Donald Trump.

“There is no Biden in this race,” an Alaska political strategist commented. “There’s Trump. You love him or hate him. Biden is merely a cardboard cutout.”

But those who support Trump may be more enthusiastic than the haters.

In Florida, for example, by the time the early and absentee votes were all counted prior to Nov. 3, Republicans were only 100,000 votes under Democrat votes in the early and absentees. That has put Republicans in a much better position going into Election Day than it did in 2016.

Then, Election Day hit. The first 500,000 vote that came this morning have Republicans dominating Democrats 51-24, a 27 percent vote advantage.

In Miami-Dade County, the Hispanic and Cuban-American vote is turning out heavily for Donald Trump, and in North Florida, it’s clearly Trump country.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says that the turnout has never been this “off” for Democrats in Florida.

Florida is somewhat of a representative state for many and is a must-win for both President Trump and Joe Biden. Florida has voted for the ultimate winner of the presidency since 1996.

In Alaska, Democrats and their candidates Alyse Galvin and Alan Gross made a big push for absentee voting, and have brought in dozens upon dozens of ballot harvesters from around the country to scoop up ballots from people and “hand them in.”

But in the end of early voting, they are just about even with Republicans in absentees, while Republicans have done better than Democrats in the early voting arena. It’s a seesaw.

Now, we drill down into the modeled projections offered by TargetSmart.com, a company that specializes in data.

As of Nov. 2, modeled-Republican voters were 49.3 percent of the vote, with modeled-Democrats at 32.8 percent. This is without the Election Day voters being accounted for.

Compared to the final vote in 2016 and 2018, Republicans are holding a super-strong advantage going into Election Day.

Right now in Alaska, Trump is enjoying enthusiastic voter support, which may bode well for conservative political allies Sen. Dan Sullivan and Congressman Don Young.

And that brings us back to the “red mirage or blue delusion” question.

If Sullivan is up by 11 percent after today’s initial count, it will be hard to see how angry Alan Gross catches him in the absentees.

The TargetSmart model doesn’t support a Gross win under any circumstance — unless those ballot harvesters have been hanging onto thousands of ballots they squeezed from voters, to deliver them today, as part of their strategy to lull Republican activists into thinking their candidates were safe.

More likely is that, in Alaska at least, there won’t be any Republican bounce or Democrat bounce that comes from the absentee votes and the early votes cast between Thursday and Monday, which will be counted with the absentees. We’re seeing a change in voter behavior, but the early and absentee votes are on a seesaw — one goes down, the other goes up.

When it comes to enthusiasm, it’s even harder to measure because of the social pressure from the Left. One young voter in Southeast Alaska commented, “Don’t tell anyone but I voted all Republican. My friends would hate me if they found out.” The shy Republican voter phenomenon will be studied by political scientists for years, as the vitriol from Democrats had reached epic proportions this election cycle.

Polls in Alaska close at 8 pm.

Mat-Su also having election tomorrow for local offices

Suzanne Downing
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Mat-Su also having election tomorrow for local offices

Mat-Su Borough has an election on Nov. 3, which aligns with the General Election. The borough is home to about 108,000 residents in its 25,258 square miles.

In 2018, voters in the borough passed a measure to move the elections from October to the General Election Day. The first November election was held in 2019, and had only a 9 percent turnout, but this year voters in the Mat-Su have a president to vote for, and turnout may be much higher.

Voters in the cities of Wasilla, Palmer, and Houston also have separate elections that take place in October. The candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot for Mat-Su voters are:

TROSHYNSKI, Jeanne, Candidate for School Board District 3

LARSON, R. “Ole”, Candidate for School Board District 3

YUNDT II, Robert D., Candidate for Assembly District 4

VAGUE, Colleen, Candidate for Assembly District 4

SANCHEZ, Amber N., Candidate for Assembly District 4

VAGUE, Colleen, Candidate for Assembly District 4

ALEXANDER, Mike, Candidate for Assembly District 5

BEHRENS, Lisa A., Candidate for Assembly District 5

TEW, Clayton, Candidate for Assembly District 5

KOCH, Ken, Candidate for Assembly District 5

PROBASCO, Dwight D., Candidate for School Board District 6

BAUGUS, Leland R. “Lee”, Candidate for School Board District 6

Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm, Nov. 3, 2020. To find your polling place, call 1-888-383-8683.

Changes to absentee ballot rules include:

  • A witness signature is no longer required on the absentee by-mail envelope
  • Voters must still sign the envelope and provide one voter identifier
  • The timeframe to receive the absentee by-mail ballot through the mail has been extended from 3 days to 7 days
  • Ballots must be postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020 and be received in the mail no later than Nov. 10, 2020
  • If you prefer to hand deliver your ballot to an election official or place in a drop box, this must be done no later than 8 p.m. Election Day, Nov. 3, 2020

Fagan: The truth behind ADN’s shady endorsement — follow the money

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Fagan: The truth behind ADN’s shady endorsement — follow the money

By DAN FAGAN

Most journalists understand following the money is the quickest way to answer the question of why.

Journalists should be asking the owner of the Anchorage Daily News, Ryan Binkley, why his paper has endorsed the insanity that is Ballot Measure 2. 

Anyone with a lick of sense, and without a direct financial incentive in the measure passing, could never favor such a foolish, convoluted, and ridiculous proposal. 

But Binkley does have a financial interest in the initiative passing. The very same Lower-48 left-wing billionaire backers dumping a bunch of cash into the operation of the ADN are also pouring multiple millions into supporting Ballot Measure 2.  

Radical Leftist and billionaire John Arnold based out of Houston, Texas, has dumped $3 million into Alaska to help pass Ballot Measure 2. Arnold has been described as the mini George Soros. The shoe certainly fits.

Arnold has also donated millions to the liberal group ProPublica. ProPublica pays to boost the salaries and research costs of the fledgling and failing Anchorage Daily News.

If the paper came out against Ballot Measure 2, it would likely jeopardize the ADN’s desperately needed funding from the left-wing Arnold.  

But Binkley has even more financial incentive to back Ballot Measure 2. Hedge fund billionaire Dirk Ziff, based in Florida, dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Alaska to promote Ballot Measure 2.

Ziff also pays the salary of an ADN reporter according to Brett Huber, with the Defend Alaska Elections campaign.

“As the largest newspaper in the state of Alaska, The Anchorage Daily News has a civic responsibility to be transparent with the public,” said Huber. “At the very least the ADN should have disclosed this conflict of interest. Recusing themselves from offering an endorsement would have been the honorable thing to do.”  

Huber says the Defend Alaska Elections campaign opposing Ballot Measure 2 has submitted five different editorials in the past month and yet the paper has refused to print any of them. He says every other paper in the state has run one of their editorials. 

The ADN backing Ballot Measure 2 is even shadier considering the paper is using other endorsements during this election cycle to shake its perfectly deserved reputation as a liberal rag.   

The ADN has endorsed Republicans Sen. Dan Sullivan, and Congressman Don Young. The paper also came out against Ballot Measure 1, a tax hike that would devastate Alaska’s economy and enrich the proposal’s biggest financial donor, attorney Robin Brena.

So, why would the paper come out in favor of Ballot Measure 2? Follow the money! 

Don’t look for KTUU or Alaska Public Media to call out the ADN for its glaring conflict of interest. The left-leaning media typically watch out for their own. 

Many hoped once the Binkley family took over Alaska’s largest newspaper, the ADN would abandon its long-held, consistent, and overt left-wing bent. At the very least we hoped the paper would try to be fair. It has not.  

Many of the same old crusty liberals that ran the paper under previous owners McClatchy Inc. and Alice Rogoff are still in charge. 

Ryan’s father John has long been a crusader for conservative ideas and values. Apparently, based on the ADN’s continued left-leaning reporting, Ryan holds a different world view. 

Or maybe Ryan’s just trying to keep his business financially afloat during a time when newspapers are dramatically downsizing and failing across the country.   

A well-known conservative I trust told me once of a conversation she had with Ryan.

She confronted him on his paper’s continued left-leaning bias. She reports Ryan told her he feared losing the paper’s subscribers if they changed their coverage since most of them are liberals.  

If Binkley endorsed the insanity that is Ballot Measure 2, he should at the very least let his readers know he was doing so to help his bottom line.  

Dan Fagan hosts the number one rated morning drive radio show in Alaska on Newsradio 650 KENI. Dan splits his time between Anchorage and New Orleans.  

Gross plays the Semite card, feigns victim, demands stuff

Suzanne Downing
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Gross plays the Semite card, feigns victim, demands stuff

GROSS CAMPAIGN BEHAVES LIKE IT IS LOSING

In a scenario reminiscent of a stunt that State Sen. Jessie Kiehl and Juneau Democrats pulled on Republican Women of Juneau in 2018, U.S. Senate hopeful Alan Gross is playing the “anti-semitic” card and going after Sen. Dan Sullivan, calling him a racist.

Gross is accusing Sen. Dan Sullivan in what appears to be a desperate attempt to curry favor with Alaska voters. It may backfire, since most voters in Alaska will not be sympathetic to such a ploy.

Gross says a photo of him that depicts him holding money is an “anti-semitic trope,” the same terminology that Sen. Kiehl used in 2018 when the Republican women published a flyer saying he would tax Alaskans. In that flyer, the women said if you give Kiehl your vote, you may as well give him your wallet.

In this instance, the response from the Gross campaign comes comes from a hired publicity gun in Washington, D.C., as a cover for the campaign.

Andrew Feldman Strategies is carrying the spear, issuing a press release that says the picture is dark, and that having Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in the background is also what it makes it anti-Jewish.

But Gross himself got into the act, calling the ad “disgusting.”

“This ad has disgusting anti-Semitic tropes but it’s what we should expect from a candidate who has hidden how his family does business with communist China and has voted time and again to benefit their bottom line. They should take the ad down,” Gross huffed in the press release. So did a few others who are clearly in the Democrat camp, such as J Street, a liberal advocacy group, and the Jewish Democratic Council of America.

In recent weeks, Gross has called Sullivan a number of names, (lapdog, corrupt, communist Chinese sympathizer, and has made numerous there unfounded accusations, such as blaming him for the coronavirus pandemic.

Gross is the son of the late Avrum Gross, who was a Jew from New York City. It’s unclear if Alan’s mother is Jewish; her maiden name was Teeple, a Germanic name, typically. In her time, Shari Gross was a significant political player in Juneau, and was a founder of the Alaska League of Women Voters, a known liberal group that pretend to be neutral.

It’s unclear why Alan Gross believes that the depiction of him with Schumer and dark money is anything but accurate, since his campaign has been built on $25 million in Outside dark money, and since he has met with Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and pledged his loyalty. Schumer’s political action committee has contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Gross’ campaign.

In 2016, Democrats in Juneau savaged Republican women for an ad that was fair game for criticizing Democrats and their spendthrift ways. The Republican Women of Juneau found the “anti-Semitic” claim against them to be so hateful and unworthy, they simply didn’t respond, although through actors such as former Gov. Walker chief of staff Scott Kendall, the abuse against the Juneau Republican women made it to the Washington Post, which happily continued the accusation.

A hate crime in Juneau against a Republican woman

Hell freezes over: ADN endorses Don Young

Suzanne Downing
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Hell freezes over: ADN endorses Don Young

In a witty ad to appear in the print edition the day before Election Day, Congressman Don Young’s campaign has taken a lighthearted touch in response to the Uber-liberal Anchorage Daily News editorial board’s endorsement of him.

“The reality is, Rep. Young isn’t running to be out state’s chief medical officer, anger management counselor or health teacher. He’s running to continue representing Alaska’s interests in Washington, D.C., where his experience, leadership and relationships convey substantial benefits,” the editorial writers wrote.

The newspaper also endorsed U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan this weekend, and said that Ballot Measure One is bad for Alaska.

One opponent of Ballot Measure One, which would jack around Alaska’s oil taxes again, said she thought she saw pigs flying by her window when she read the newspaper’s decision to oppose the measure.

The newspaper, however came out in support of jacking around the one-person, one-vote election system in Alaska.

State’s largest newspaper sides with Outside elites in trying to game elections
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