Across Alaska, just one candidate — Kieran Brown of Fairbanks — was not expected to advance after Tuesday’s primary elections for the Legislature. The new system allows the top four primary candidates to move on, and nearly all races had four or fewer candidates.
That means all of Southeast Alaska’s primary candidates will advance to the ranked choice general election. But the primary results do give an early preview of how voters are feeling about the candidates.
In Juneau, Democratic Rep. Sara Hannan took 83% of the vote in the House District 4 primary compared to 17% for challenger Darrell Harmon. Rep. Andi Story and Sen. Jesse Kiehl, both Democrats, are running unopposed.
Sitka Republican Sen. Bert Stedman has a big lead over Petersburg Republican Mike Sheldon in the primary race for Senate Seat A with just a few precincts left to be counted. Stedman received nearly 68% of the votes to Sheldon’s 32%.
In the House District 1 race, which includes Ketchikan and Wrangell, incumbent Independent Dan Ortiz took 51% of the vote. Republican Jeremy Bynum had 45%, and non-partisan Shevaun Meggitt got just 4% after ending her campaign and endorsing Bynum.
For House District 2, which includes Petersburg, Sitka and most of Prince of Wales Island, independent Rebecca Himschoot of Sitka got 54% of the vote, with Republican Kenny Karl Skaflestad bringing in 46%.
The House District 2 seat was long held by Sitka Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who announced earlier this year he wouldn’t seek a sixth term.
The primary election results won’t be certified until early next month.
This post has been updated to include that Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, is also running unopposed.