2020 Alaska primary election: Close races for Valley seats in the House; Wilson leads five challengers in senate race

Close races for Valley seats in the Alaska House of Representatives highlight the Tuesday night results in Alaska’s primary election.

Republican incumbent David Eastman leads challenger Jesse Sumner by 88 votes in the race for District 10, and incumbent George Rauscher leads challenger LD Howard by only 30 votes in the race for District 9. Seven of the 11 precincts in District 10 have reported results, while five of the 11 in District 9 have reported. Precincts reported in-person voting tallies on Tuesday night but additional absentee and by mail ballots will be counted in the coming days. More absentee and by mail ballots have been requested for the 2020 Primary Election than any other in Alaska’s history.

The Valley’s largest race is in Senate District D in which five republicans are challenging incumbent David Wilson. As of Tuesday night, Wilson holds the lead with 1,068 of the 3,195 total votes counted. Stephen Wright (826 votes) and Loy Thurman (711) trail in second and third place. In District D, 11 of the 13 total precincts have reported.

“We knew we were fighting an uphill battle,” said Wilson. “We knew it was going to be a close race.”

In District 8, challenger Kevin McCabe leads incumbent Mark Neuman by more than 400 votes in District 8. Four of the six have reported results.

In District 7, Christopher Kurka leads Lynn Gattis by more than 700 votes and has 71.33 percent of the vote with all seven precincts reporting results.

Republican incumbent DeLena Johnson holds a 1,005-vote lead over Alex Fetta in District 11, with all nine districts reporting. Also representing Palmer, Sen. Shelley Hughes won her unopposed Republican Primary with 3,146 votes and 15 of 16 precincts reporting. House 12 Representative Cathy Tilton also won her unopposed Republican Primary with 1,356 votes with six of seven precincts reporting.

“I am feeling quite confident. Of course there wasn't any opportunity for a write in so I am the nominee and same with Cathy Tilton and it looks like DeLena,” said Hughes.

Hughes announced that she was leaving the Republican Caucus in the Senate on July 28. Senate President Cathy Giessel representing District N is trailing Roger Holland by more than 1,000 votes in the District N Republican Primary.

“There is a clear message that those voting the Republican ballot anyway were not happy with the stance that these incumbents took as far as them putting government spending above people during the covid crisis. I think that probably was a real turning point when we did have a permanent fund where we could've helped folks,” said Hughes. “That move of mine to exit the majority clearly did send a message that there is a problem with Senator Giessel’s leadership so how much that impacted that race I don’t know, that’s a different district they probably don’t care what a Mat-Su Senator does or doesn’t do.”

Senator Dan Sullivan won his unopposed Republican Primary in his bid for another term in the U.S. Senate with 33,350 votes. Dr. Al Gross defeated Edgar Blatchford, Chris Cummings, and John Wayne Howe for the Democratic nomination with 17,008 of the 21,722 votes.

Dean of the U.S. House of Representatives Don Young won his Republican Primary with 26,679 of the 34,368 votes. Gerald Heikes from Palmer also received 1,897 votes in third place behind John Nelson. Alyse Galvin won the Democratic Primary with 18,132 of the 21,395 total votes, defeating Bill Hibler and Ray Sean Tugatuk.

More votes were cast and more candidates ran for the seat in Senate District D representing Wasilla than any other Valley election. Wilson carries a lead of 242 votes over Wright. Bee Rupright received 297 votes, Chandra McCain-Finch received 219 votes and Huhnkie Lee received 74 votes in the Republican Primary for Senate D.

The candidates in House District 10 raised more money during campaign season than any other race in the Valley, with Sumner reporting over $91,00 in total and Eastman raising over $33,000 himself. In District 10, 1,150 total voters cast ballots in the Republican Primary, accounting for 6.75 percent of voters in that district. While Representative Eastman received 619 votes, Assemblyman Jesse Sumner received 531 with seven of 11 precincts reporting. Monica Stein-Olson received 253 votes in the Democratic Primary in District 10, accounting for 1.6 percent of the voters.

Other Democratic candidates receiving votes were Alma Hartley who received 224 votes in House District 8 and Bill Johnson who received 129 votes in District 9. Danny Gray received 318 votes in District 12 and Andrea Hackbarth received 564 votes in District 11. Stephany Jeffers received 878 votes in the Democratic Primary for Senate F. Thomas Lamb received 537 votes in District D.