Stoltze, Tilton, Colver lead primary races

ANCHORAGE — As the television stations packed up their gear and sign-waving supporters hugged goodbye, at Election Central on Tuesday, the Valley seemed to have a good handle on who it will send to the general election.

Three seats were in play in the primary — the senate Seat representing Palmer, Butte and Chugiak, the House seat representing Knik and Chugiak and the House seat representing Chickaloon, Sutton, parts of Greater Palmer and a good stretch of the Richardson Highway.

In the Senate race, Bill Stoltze, a long-time representative hoping for a promotion, seemed to have a commanding lead over his opponent, Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson.

As 11 p.m., with just a third of precincts in, Stotlze had 67 percent to Johnson’s 33 percent.

Johnson seemed downbeat but expressed no regrets.

“I feel good that I ran this race, whether I win it or lose it,” Johnson said.

In the race for the Republican nomination for the House seat representing the Knik-Fairview area, Cathy Tilton seemed much more upbeat than Johnson. With 43 percent of precincts in, Tilton led Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Ron Arvin 65 percent to 35 percent.

“I’m feeling pretty good right now,” Tilton said.

She said that she and Arvin were pretty close on the issues and that she thinks she probably prevailed through consistent messaging and boots-on-the-ground campaigning.

“I did have a great ground game,” she said.

In both the Stotlze/Johnson race and the Arvin/Tilton race, while the results could conceivably flip, at this point in the count it seems unlikely. The Chickaloon/Sutton/Richardson Highway race was a different story. Though nearly all the votes were in, only 40 ballots separated the leaders.

With 90 percent of the vote in at 11 p.m., borough Assemblyman Jim Colver held 826 votes to the 786 in the column of Sutton Community Council President George Rauscher. Incumbent Eric Feige was trailing with 29 percent of the vote to Colver’s 36 percent.

The Valley did field a few candidates for statewide office. The one that got the most attention was Bob Williams in the Democratic Party race for the Lt. Governor nomination.

Williams campaigned statewide, visiting villages and cities alike. But it wasn’t enough to overcome the well-known Anchorage Democrat and sitting state Sen. Hollis French.

With half the precincts in, French held 63 percent of the votes to Williams’ 24 percent.

A math teacher at Colony High School, Williams said that he could read the writing on the wall, that he’d need an unlikely shift in the returns to catch French.

But, he said, he thought he accomplished his goals to run a race to represent all of Alaska and to bring people into the political process who wouldn’t usually participate.

“I think by and large I met that goal,” he said. “I’m really proud and honored by the people who have supported me and became involved in the campaign.”

Even candidates who didn’t have races Tuesday turned out to the Egan Civic and Convention Center. Gretchen Wehmhoff, the Democrat who the winner of the Tilton/Arvin race will face in the general, shook hands and gave out hugs as people walked by her table. She did not have an opponent in the primary and thus held 100 percent of the ballots cast for her as of 11 p.m.

“I’m feeling pretty good, I just won my primary,” she joked.

She said she looked forward to the general and to discussing her main issues of education, senior care and transportation.

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, who has chosen to run as an Independent against incumbent Rep. Lynn Gattis, showed up along with former Palmer City Manager Doug Griffin waving signs for Bill Walker, who is running as an independent for the governor’s office. Rupright said it wasn’t Walker’s inspiration that drove him to run as an independent, but they made the decision for similar reasons.

“I’m a political entrepreneur and I’m a little tired of the power polarization,” Rupright said of his run outside the party system.