Primary numbers: Fun facts about the filings at the Division of Elections

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Brandy Pennington files for House District 9, the seat being vacated by Rep. Laddie Shaw. She is a real estate professional in Anchorage and is a Republican.

The deadline to file for the Aug. 20 primary was 5 p.m. on June 1 at the Division of Elections, and it was a busy day, indeed, for both the aspiring candidates and Election Division staff. Those who were busy filing on the final day had to first have their official financial disclosure notarized and on file with the Alaska Public Offices Commission and be registered with APOC as an official candidate. It’s quite a checklist and for a few, it came down to the wire.

The Division of Elections worked late on Saturday to get all the candidates who completed their paperwork by 5 p.m. into the division’s website. Must Read Alaska will update this list as needed this weekend.

But first, some observations about the list of candidates who will be on the primary ballot are in order:

12 Number of congressional candidates who filed with Division of Elections. This has been unchanged for several days. The three major candidates remain the same: Democrat Incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola, Republican Nick Begich, and Republican Nancy Dahlstrom.

120 – Number of state legislative candidates who filed for the August 20 primary.

61 – Number of Republicans who filed.

32 – Number of Democrats who filed.

18 – Number of no-party candidates who filed. These are Undeclareds and Nonpartisans, and most historically use a U or an N designation to trick moderate voters into believing they are moderates, and then caucus with Democrats.

3 – Number of Alaskan Independence Party candidates who filed.

3 – Number of Libertarian Party candidates who filed.

3 – Number of unchallenged Republicans. All three are incumbents: Rep. Dan Saddler of Eagle River, Rep. DeLena Johnson of Palmer, and Rep. Cathy Tilton of Wasilla.

5 – Number of unchallenged Democrat or no-party candidates. They are all incumbents: Sen. Jesse Kiehl of Juneau, Sen. Donny Olson of Golovin, Rep. Rebecca Himschoot of Sitka, Rep. Sara Hannan of Juneau, and Rep. Zack Fields of Anchorage.

8 – Total number of legislative seats unopposed.

5 – Number of legislative candidates who filed with their Native names in quotes for the ballot.

17 – Number of legislative races that have more than one Republican in the race. They are Senate Seat D – Bjorkman and Carpenter; Senate Seat F – Borbridge and Kaufman; Senate Seat H, McKay and Vazquez; Senate Seat L – Goecker, Jackson, McCarty, Merrick; Senate Seat N – Wilson, Wright, and Yundt; Senate Seat R – Cronk and Squyres; House District 6 – Slaughter and Vance; House District 7 – Gillham and Ruffridge; House District 8 – Elam and Hillyer; House District 9 – Bauer, Ellis, and Pennington; House District 10 – C. Johnson and Kopp; House District 27 – Eastman and Underwood; House District 28 – Menard, Moore, Sumner, and Wright; House District 30 – Holmes and McCabe; House District 33 – Prax and Welch; House District 34 – Cottle and Tomaszewski; House District 36 – Goode, Mock, Schwanke, and Snodgress.

3 – Number of races that have more than one Democrat in the race. They are House District 15 – Darden and Wells; House District 38 – Jimmie, McCormick, and Sosa; and House District 40 – Burke and Chase.

18 – Number of Democrat and no-declared-party candidates who had signed the petition to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2019. They are: Janice Park, Forrest Dunbar, Jason Avery, Savannah Fletcher, Rebecca Himschoot, Sara Hannon, Ky Holland, Walter Featherly, Calvin Schrage, Andy Josephson, Alyse Galvin, Cliff Groh, Genevieve Mina, Ted Eischeid, Maxine Dibert, CJ McCormick, Victoria Sosa, and Robyn Burke.

3 – Number of legislative races with more than four candidates. District 36 has 6 candidates; Senate Seat L has 5 candidates and Senate Seat R has 5 candidates. These are the only races that will be impacted by the open primary, which whittles the field to four candidates for the Ranked-Choice General Election.

THE CANDIDATES

SENATE DISTRICT B

Sen. Jesse Kiehl, incumbent Democrat, unchallenged

SENATE DISTRICT D

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, incumbent Republican

Rep. Ben Carpenter, Republican

Andy Cizek, Alaskan Independence Party

Tina Wegener, Democrat

SENATE DISTRICT F

Harold Borbridge, Republican

Sen. James Kaufman, incumbent Republican

Janice Park, Democrat

SENATE DISTRICT H

Sen. Matt Claman, incumbent Democrat

Rep. Tom McKay, Republican

Former Rep. Liz Vazquez, Republican

SENATE DISTRICT J

Sen. Forrest Dunbar, incumbent Democrat

Cheronda Smith, no party

SENATE DISTRICT L

Jared Goecker, Republican

Lee Hammermeister, Democrat

Sharon Jackson, Republican

Ken McCarty, Republican

Sen. Kelly Merrick, incumbent Republican

SENATE DISTRICT N

Sen. David Wilson, incumbent Republican

Stephen Wright, Republican

Rob Yundt, Republican

SENATE DISTRICT P

Leslie Hajdukovich, Republican

Sen. Scott Kawasaki, incumbent Democrat

SENATE DISTRICT R

Jason Avery, Democrat

Rep. Mike Cronk, Republican

Savannah Fletcher, no party

James Squyres, Republican

Robert “Bert” Williams, Alaskan Independence Party

SENATE DISTRICT T

Sen. Donny Olson, incumbent Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 01 -KETCHIKAN

Jeremy Bynum, Republican

Grant Echohawk, no party

Agnes Moran, no party

Rep. Daniel Ortiz has announced he is dropping but has until June 29 to formally withdraw.

HOUSE DISTRICT 02 – SITKA

Rebecca Himschoot, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 03 – NORTH JUNEAU

Rep. Andi Story, incumbent Democrat

Former Rep. Bill Thomas, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 04DOWNTOWN JUNEAU

Rep. Sara Hannan, incumbent Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 05 – KODIAK, SEWARD

Leighton Radner, Libertarian

Rep. Louise Stutes, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 06 – SOUTH KENAI

Alana Greear, no party

Brent Johnson, no party

Dawson Slaughter, Republican

Rep. Sarah Vance, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 07 – SOLDOTNA

Former Rep. Ron Gillham, Republican

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 08 – NORTH KENAI

Bill Elam, Republican

John Hillyer, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 09 – SOUTH ANCHORAGE

Lucy Bauer, Republican

Lee Ellis, Republican

Ky Holland, no party

Brandy Pennington, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 10 – SOUTH ANCHORAGE

Rep. Craig Johnson, incumbent Republican

Former Rep. Chuck Kopp, Republican

Greg Magee, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 11 – ANCHORAGE

Rep. Julie Columbe, Republican

Walter Featherly, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 12 – ANCHORAGE

Joseph Lurtsema, Republican

Rep. Calvin Schrage, incumbent no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 13 – ANCHORAGE

Heather Gotshall, Republican

Rep. Andy Josephson, incumbent Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 14 – ANCHORAGE

Rep. Alyse Galvin, incumbent no party

Harry Winner Kamdem, Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 15 – ANCHORAGE

Former Sen. Mia Costello, Republican

Dustin Darden, Democrat

Denny Wells, Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 16 – ANCHORAGE

Carolyn Hall, Democrat

Nick Moe, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 17 – ANCHORAGE

Rep. Zack Fields, incumbent Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 18 – ANCHORAGE

Rep. Cliff Groh, incumbent Democrat

Former Rep. David Nelson, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 19 – ANCHORAGE

Kaylee Anderson, Republican

Rep. Genevieve Mina, incumbent Democrat

Russell O. Wyatt, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 20 – ANCHORAGE

Rep. Andrew Gray, incumbent Democrat

Scott Kohlhaas, Libertarian

HOUSE DISTRICT 21 – ANCHORAGE

Rep. Donna Mears, incumbent Democrat

Aimee Sims, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 22 – ANCHORAGE

Ted Eischeid, Democrat

Rep. Stanley Wright, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 23 – EAGLE RIVER

Rep. Jamie Allard, incumbent Republican

Jim Arlington, Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 24 – EAGLE RIVER

Rep. Dan Saddler, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 25 – MAT-SU PALMER

Rep. DeLena Johnson, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 26 – MAT-SU FAIRVIEW WASILLA

Rep. Cathy Tilton, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 27 – WASILLA

Rep. David Eastman, incumbent Republican

Jubilee Underwood, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 28 – WASILLA

Steve Menard, Republican

Elexie Moore, Republican

Rep. Jesse Sumner, incumbent Republican

Jessica Wright, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 29 – SUTTON

Rep. George Rauscher, incumbent Republican

Bruce Wall, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 30 – BIG LAKE

Doyle Holmes, Republican

Rep. Kevin McCabe, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 31 – FAIRBANKS

Rep. Maxine Dibert, incumbent Democrat

Former Rep. Bart LeBon, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 32 – FAIRBANKS

Gary Damron, Democrat

Rep. Will Stapp, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 33 – NORTH POLE

Rep. Mike Prax, incumbent Republican

Michael Welsh, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 34– FAIRBANKS

Joy Beth Cottle, Republican

Rep. Frank Tomaszewski, incumbent Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 35 – FAIRBANKS

Rep. Ashley Carrick, incumbent Democrat

Ruben McNeill, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 36 – INTERIOR TOK-DELTA JUNCTION

James Fields, Libertarian

Pam Goode, Republican

Brandon P. “Putuuqti” Kowaski, Democrat

Dana Mock, Republican

Rebecca Schwanke, Republican

Cole Snodgress, Republican

HOUSE DISTRICT 37 – WESTERN

Darren Deacon, no party

Bryce Edgmon, no party

HOUSE DISTRICT 38 – BETHEL

Nellie D. “Unangiq” Jimmie, Democrat

Willie Keppel, Veterans Party of Alaska

Rep. CJ McCormick, incumbent Democrat

Victoria Sosa, Democrat

HOUSE DISTRICT 39 – NOME

Rep. Neal Foster, incumbent Democrat

Tyer Ivanoff, Alaskan Independence Party

HOUSE DISTRICT 40 – UTQIAGVIK

Rep.  Thomas C. “Ikaaq” Baker, incumbent no party

 Robyn “Niayuq” Burke, Democrat

 Saima “Ikrik” Chase, Democrat

5 COMMENTS

  1. Just a quick correction: According to the DOE website, Andy Cizek filed for Senate District D for the AK Independence Party.
    ‘https://www.elections.alaska.gov/candidates/

      • Suzanne, could you PLEASE do a deep dive on the senate seat L race. Including the actions and voting pattern of the incumbent and the record of the other candidates. I think Eagle River and Chugiak was grossly uninformed in the last go round and would like to see an attempt to fix that.

  2. Here’s a fun fact you may have missed: Cheronda Smith and Kaylee Anderson listed the same address, an apartment in North Mountain View. Another fun fact will be gleaned by pouring through APOC reports to see how many different candidates are tied to Christian Killgore and Paula DeLaiarro (read: Ship Creek Group).

    As for the Native names in quotes, something tells me that was done at the insistence of the Division of Elections, not the candidates themselves. At a certain point, births were reported with a Native name included as part of the legal name recorded on their birth certificate. I first noticed it occurring about 20 to 25 years ago with births at the Kotzebue hospital, then started seeing or hearing about it elsewhere. The APOC filings listed a District 40 candidate who did not file in the end, Qaiyaan Harcharek, who was listed without any mention of a tanik name.

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