Dunleavy takes big win in Republican primary; Meyer outpaces Grunwald for GOP Lt. Gov slot

ANCHORAGE — Former Wasilla Sen. Mike Dunleavy won the Republican primary for governor Tuesday night, fending off a late charge from former Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell.

Dunleavy grabbed 39,193 votes, or 62 percent to Treadwell’s 20,032 votes, or 32 percent. Five other candidates, led by Michael Sheldon at 2.2 percent shared the rest.

““I want to thank everybody. This is a Republican state. And we need to take back this governorship,” Dunleavy told his crowd of supporters watching results come in from the Aviator Hotel in downtown Anchorage. “And by working together, we can make it happen.”

Dunleavy goes on to the general election as the prohibitive favorite in a three-way race against the independent incumbent Gov. Bill Walker and former Anchorage Mayor and U.S. Senator Mark Begich, who took Tuesday night’s Democratic Primary with 29,806, or 85 percent of the vote. His only challenger, William S. Toien, a longtime Libertarian party member and former state house rep, claimed 5,197 votes, or 15 percent.

In all, 35,003 voted in the Democratic Primary compared to 63,432 in the more hotly contested Republican contest.

Treadwell got into the race shortly before the filing deadline, and after Scott Hawkins withdrew, Treadwell became the more centrist option.

“Obviously the argument has been made that I could’ve gotten in earlier, but I broke my ankle earlier this spring and wasn’t really up to running around,” Treadwell said at his campaign’s watch party at Bootlegger’s in downtown Anchorage. “The other thing is there were other people in the race playing checkbook deterrence. We were up against a really good checkbook.”

In the race for Lt. Gov., Kevin Meyer, a former Senate president took the Republican nomination, holding off a strong charge from Palmer resident Edie Grunwald.

Meyer collected 21,485 votes, or 36 percent, to Grunwald’s 16,207, or 27 percent.

Another Valley resident and former house member Lynn Gattis took 10 percent and Sharon Jackson claimed 8.

Meyer moves into the general election against the lone Democrat on Tuesday night’s ballot, Debra Call, who ran unopposed and collected all 30,600 votes.