2018 Election: Rauscher cruises to victory

MAT-SU — With the toughest part of the election season in his rearview mirror, George Rauscher of Sutton was pleased with his landslide victory to retain his seat as District 9 Representative. Rauscher received 69.16 percent of the vote with 4,273 ballots cast for the incumbent. Rauscher faced two challengers, just as he did in the August Primary.

“I thought it was a long, hard, campaign. I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad for the turnout of the rest of the numbers, which are looking pretty good, too, from what I saw. I’m really excited. I’m really relieved. I’m looking forward to this year,” Rauscher said.

Rauscher defeated former representative Jim Colver and Pamela Goode in the August Primary for the Republican party. Rauscher received 49.44 percent of the vote in August, compared to 50.56 percent of the vote split amongst Colver and Goode. Rauscher blew the non-republican competition out of the water on Tuesday. Democratic nominee Bill Johnson received 23.26 percent of the vote with 1,437 votes cast. Petitioner James Squyres, the husband of Goode, received just 7.2 percent of the ballot with 445 votes.

Rauscher was determined to take what he learned since the last session came to a close when legislators return to Juneau in January.

“We’ll probably be a couple of pick up bills from before, but we’re going to look at some of the things we learned along the campaign... We’ve already written some legislation, which we’ve picked up from what the people have said they wanted. We’re looking forward to bringing that forward,” Rauscher said.

Rauscher was curious to see if the Democratic majority in the House would remain intact following vote tallies on Tuesday night. Rauscher is also excited to work with the Governor-elect Mike Dunleavy, a Republican from Wasilla.

“We’re going to all have to work with it,” Rauscher said.