Congressional candidates concede

MAT-SU — With 22,000 votes still left to be counted, the ‘yes’ votes on Ballot Measure 2 took a sizable lead in the numbers of counted absentee ballots reported by the Alaska Division of Elections on Friday.

No other races for the Legislature flipped on Friday, but congressional candidates Alyse Galvin and Dr. Al Gross both conceded to their opponents on Friday. Galvin said that she left Representative Don Young a voicemail. Young announced on his Twitter account on Thursday that he had tested positive for COVID-19.

“I hope he gets well soon. The results are not the outcome that we wanted or that we worked so hard for and I am disappointed we did not win. This election shows that we remain an incredibly divided state and nation,” said Galvin. “For those of you who see things only through the lens of partisanship, this election once again resulted in a divided government where Republicans, Democrats and Independents must figure out a way to work together and move us forward. I am hopeful that we have reached the worst of our divide and that we are all ready to find that common ground to move forward rather than continue to blame the other guys for all our problems.”

The initiative to reform oil taxes on Ballot Measure 1 is down by over 50,000 votes and was mathematically eliminated from flipping from ‘no’ to ‘yes’ during the course of the counting this week. Ballot Measure 2, also known as ‘Alaskans for Better Elections’ took a 497 vote lead in the numbers posted on Thursday night. On Friday, the ranked-choice voting ballot measure increased its lead to 1,141 with Friday’s numbers. There have been 162,373 ‘yes’ votes counted and 161,232 ‘no’ votes, a lead of .36 percent.

“Partisanship is a disease that has infected our entire political system and has already begun to spread into other areas of our lives that shouldn’t be political. I see the passage of Ballot Measure 2 as a hopeful sign that we can begin to fix the systems that have brought us to this point of division. Similarly we need action on campaign finance reform because as we know this election cycle demonstrated how messed up our current system has become with so much money wasted on the political industrial complex,” said Galvin.

Though the Presidential election had been called a week ago for Joe Biden, President Trump is awarded the three electoral votes from Alaska though his lead has decreased by 67 percent. There were 179,064 votes for President Trump and 142,569 votes for Biden as of the count from Friday. Galvin Received 148,906 votes, accounting for 44.96 percent of the votes cast in the race for United States Representative. Young received 181,214 votes accounting for 54.71 percent. In the race for United States Senator, Gross conceded to Senator Dan Sullivan on Friday.

“I’m incredibly proud of the campaign we ran,” said. Gross. “We were the underdogs from the start, but we ran a strong campaign and raised important issues that deserved to be heard. I want to thank my family, all of our supporters, our volunteers and our staff for their hard work over the course of this campaign and this vote counting process. I could never have made it without them. I also want to congratulate Dan Sullivan on his victory. Even though we have passionate policy disagreements on what is best for Alaska, what is important now is that all Alaskans come together after a free and fair election. I will continue to work in any way I can to serve this state that I love so dearly.”

Sullivan received 180,484 votes accounting for 52.28 percent of the votes cast for United States Senator. Gross received 135,955 accounting for 40.89 percent and John Wayne Howe received 15,503 votes accounting for 4.66 percent. None of the legislative races for House or Senate seats from the Valley have changed, but several across the state have flipped after election night. Currently, Lyn Franks Trails David Nelson by 116 votes in House District 15, Dr. Liz Snyder trails Lance Pruitt by just 58 votes in House District 27 and Elizabeth Ferguson trails Josiah Aullaqsruaq Patkotak by 148 votes with over 22,000 votes left to be counted. Nearly 11,000 votes were counted on Friday alone.

In races for Senate, Senators Shelley Hughes and David Wilson have held commanding leads since election night. Wilson received 69 percent of the votes in District D with 12,474 votes followed by Thomas Lamb with 2,605 votes and Dan Mayfield with 2,603 votes. Lamb ran as the Democratic nominee and Mayfield ran as a nonpartisan candidate and the two are separated by one hundredth of one percent. Hughes has nearly a 10,000 vote lead in Senate District F with 14,681 votes. Democratic nominee Jim Cooper received 4,895 and Gavin Christiansen received 996 votes.

Each candidate that is leading in Legislative races in the Valley has had their lead decreased by the additional absentee ballots that have been added to totals. Christopher Kurka won House District 7 with 6,402 votes to Jamin Burton’s 2,247 votes. Kevin McCabe won House District 8 with 7,460 votes to Alma Hartley’s 1,679 votes. George Rauscher won his reelection campaign with 7,488 votes and 2,867 votes for Bill Johnson. David Easman received 7,606 votes in his bid for reelection in House District 10 and Monica Stein-Olson received 2,688 votes. Representative DeLena Johnson received 7,354 votes in House District 11 and Andrea Hackbarth received 2,551. Representative Cathy Tilton won her bid for reelection without an opponent, receiving 8,833 votes and 95.61 percent of the ballots cast. There were 406 write in votes in House District 12.