No changes in Primary Election results

MAT-SU — After Primary Elections on Aug. 18, the Alaska Division of Elections has been busy all week counting absentee, questioned and special needs ballots to determine the final count for Primary winners. With the release of the latest numbers Friday night, no changes have been made to Mat-Su Valley Primary Election leaders, but nearly 2,700 of the 6,800 ballots left to be counted are in the Mat-Su, with the highest number of ballots left to be counted in House District 9.

House District 7 became an available seat when Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard decided not to run for reelection before the last legislative session. Currently, Chris Kurka has received 62.49 percent of the ballots in the District 7 Republican primary. Kurka maintains a lead of 912 votes, receiving 1,626 votes to former representative Lynn Gattis’ 714. No Democratic challengers ran in a District 7 Primary, but Jamin Burton will run a campaign for the general election against Kurka. Of the 740 absentee ballots submitted in District 7, 471 have been counted and 269 remain, making Kurka’s total insurmountable for Gattis. All of the 122 questioned ballots have been counted in House District .

Rep. Mark Neuman has been mathematically eliminated from winning the primary in House District 8. Challenger Kevin McCabe received 63.97 percent of the ballot in the Republican primary. McCabe maintains a lead of 740 votes, receiving 1,694 to Neuman’s 954. Only 247 of the 771 total absentee ballots still need to be counted and all of the 172 questioned ballots in District 8 have been counted, making McCabe’s lead insurmountable for Neuman. Democrat Alma Hartley received 590 votes out of 662 ballots issued in the District 8 Democratic primary.

Senate District D encompasses both House District’s 7 and 8. Sen. David Wilson has increased his lead over Stephen Wright. Wilson received 33.88 percent of the ballots in the Republican Primary totaling 1,633 votes. Wright received 1,241 and third place finisher Loy Thurman received 1,070. Bee Rupright, Chandra McCain-Finch and Huhnkie Lee also received votes, but Wright would need an overwhelming majority of the 516 absentee ballots still remaining in Senate District D to overcome Wilson. Thomas Lamb received 1,154 votes in the Democratic primary and will face off against Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Dan Mayfield who is running in the general election and the winner of the Republican Primary, which is most likely to be Wilson as of Friday.

Rep. George Rauscher currently holds a 369-vote lead over challenger Luke “LD” Howard in the District 9 Republican primary. All of the 985 absentee ballots and 114 questioned ballots still have to be counted in District 9, so Howard has not yet been mathematically eliminated. Democrat Bill Johnson received 481 votes out of the 539 ballots in the Democratic primary for District 9.

House District 10 was the most expensive Primary election in the Mat-Su Valley in a race between Rep. David Eastman and Mat- Su Borough Assemblyman Jesse Sumner. Eastman holds a slim 125 vote lead over Sumner currently, receiving 52.24 percent of the votes in the District 10 Republican primary. Eastman received 1,459 votes while Sumner has 1,334 with 412 absentee ballots left to be counted. Monica Stein-Olson received 747 votes in the Democratic primary for House District 10.

Rep. DeLena Johnson holds an insurmountable lead over Alex Fetta in the Republican primary for District 11. Johnson received 76.82 percent of the ballots with 1,740 votes to Fetta’s 525. Out of 973 absentee ballots in District 11, 292 still need to be counted. Andrea Hackbarth received 944 votes in the Democratic primary for District 11.

Senate District F encompasses both House District’s 10 and 11. The 704 absentee ballots remaining in District F will not have an outcome on either Primary as Shelley Hughes ran unopposed and received 4,416 votes in the Republican primary, the highest vote total of any Valley candidate during this Primary. Stephany Jeffers received 1,721 votes in the Democratic primary for Senate District F.

Cathy Tilton also won her primary as the current representative for District 12. Tilton received 2,342 votes in the Republican primary and Democrat Danny Gray received 767.

While it will have no outcome on the primary election results, Dean of the United States House of Representatives Don Young won his Republican primary with 49,604 votes. However, Alyse Galvin received 120 more votes than Young in winning the Democratic Primary for U.S. House. Young defeated John Nelson and Gerald Heikes of Palmer who received 3,714 votes in the Republican primary. Galvin defeated Ray Sean Tugatuk and Bill Hibler in the Democratic primary.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan won his unopposed Republican primary and received 15,453 more votes than Al Gross who won the Democratic primary. Sullivan received 62,179 votes and the 66,677 ballots distributed account for 11.33 percent of registered voters.

Gross defeated Edgar Blatchford, John Wayne Howe and Chris Cumings to win the Democratic primary.