A fourth Alaska Republican women’s club has thrown its endorsement to Nick Begich for Congress. That makes four out of the seven Republican women’s clubs in Alaska that are not endorsing Nancy Dahlstrom.
The latest club is the Republican Women of the Kenai, joining the other peninsula-based Republican club in saying yes to Begich, even though Donald Trump last week caved to the National Republican Congressional Committee, which recruited Dahlstrom to run against Begich.
The Republican clubs endorsing Begich are all voting members of the party’s State Central Committee:
- – Kenai Peninsula Republican Women
- – Kenai Republican Women
- – Valley Republican Women of Alaska
- – Fairbanks Republican Women
The August primary election is now an open primary, due to Ballot Measure 2, which broke the long-standing tradition of allowing parties to advance their candidates to the general election. Now, the top four vote-getters in August will be placed on the November ballot unless one of them drops out, in which case the next candidate with the the most votes advances to the November election. The November ballot is a ranked-choice operation, with voters picking first, second, and third choices. It’s a squirrelly system that makes outcomes somewhat unpredictable this far away. In 2022, Begich came in third after Sarah Palin and ultimate winner Democrat Mary Peltola.
Begich, who filed one year ago to try again, is running as an underdog in a race that has incumbent Peltola, with her millions of nationally sourced Democrat dollars at her disposal, and Republican Nancy Dahlstrom, who filed in November and who is Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s pick, as well as the pick of the former president.
But the women Republicans of Alaska are going their own way, and they represent the backbone, hands, and hearts of the Republican Party in Alaska, with their legendary grassroots activism. Begich may be outspent in this race, but it appears he has the growing support of the conservative base.
