Rep. Tom McKay, who filed earlier this year to run for Senate, has withdrawn his candidacy. He and fellow Republican Liz Vazquez split the primary vote between them as they both wanted to unseat Sen. Matt Claman in Senate Seat H, Anchorage.
There were over 6,100 votes cast in the race, and between them, McKay and Vasquez did not come close to Claman, who got 60% of the vote to their 40%. The district is very liberal, and both McKay and Vazquez are conservatives.
McKay is retiring from House District 15 and Vazquez is a former representative for the area that was, back during her time in office, known as District 22.
McKay said he felt having two Republicans in the race against a Democrat in November would split the energy of the party. Many Republicans have criticized ranked-choice voting because it dilutes the efforts of Republicans to get behind just one candidate after the primary. Proponents of ranked-choice voting say this doesn’t happen, but Democrats have been the beneficiaries of the system, since Republicans have more candidates and thus split the party energy.
McKay is a former chairman of the Alaska Republican Party and a longtime executive in the oil industry. Vazquez is an attorney and longtime Republican activist who served in the House from 2015 until 2017.
In the Senate district, Claman signs outnumber Vazquez signs noticeably. Election analysts say this will be a hard district or a Republican to win.
However, Claman has had serious health issues this year and was taken out of the Capitol by medics and had to be sent to Seattle for a health crisis that has left him looking noticeably weakened. That said, he has much loyalty in the district from his longtime service on the Anchorage Assembly and, for a brief period, as acting mayor.
I hope she wins.
Claman is a disaster – we can thank him for the very high crime in Anchorage.