Friday’s election results have triggered a chain of political maneuvers, starting with Tom Begich’s decision to step down to give fellow Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins a better shot at winning.
The latest count has Kreiss-Tompkins finishing first in the primary, followed by Begich. Republicans Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson placed third and fourth.
Under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, the top four candidates advance to the general election. With Begich’s withdrawal, Republican Treg Taylor moved into the fourth spot. But on Sunday, Taylor called for Wilson and Bronson to consolidate their campaigns and pledged to endorse a combined Republican ticket. In a statement, Taylor urged Republicans to unite behind a single candidate, to counter Kreiss-Tompkins, who led the field with 22.5 percent of the vote.
Although Begich was less than 2 percentage points behind Kreiss-Tompkins, he says he’s at peace with his decision to step aside.
“I think the most difficult part of this decision was realizing that there was really no path forward,” the former Anchorage lawmaker said. “But seeing that there was a path forward for people of like mind, in this case Jonathan, was really for me the fundamental factor.”
Begich says his decision came down to more than political math — that he ran for governor to raise state revenues, improve schools and lower the cost of living for Alaskans, priorities he shares with Kreiss-Tompkins but not with Republicans.
“They put us on a path, significantly, I believe for Alaska, more dangerous,” Begich said. “This state has to reverse the direction we’ve been going in, not just for the last eight years, but for much of the last quarter of a century.”
In a statement, Kreiss-Tompkins said too much is at stake to split the vote. He praised Begich and his running mate, Julia Hnilicka, for what he called a “big-minded decision.”
Monday, August 31, is the deadline for the Elections Division to certify primary results. It is also the final day for candidates to withdraw from the race.
Taylor’s candidacy faces another challenge. The Alaska Public Offices Commission, the state’s campaign finance watchdog, has recommended that Taylor’s candidacy not be certified. But even if Taylor withdraws, that would not necessarily unify the Republican field. Former state senator Click Bishop, a Republican, would be next in line to move into the top four and advance to the general election.
