Valley voters return incumbents to office

MAT-SU — Widespread anti-incumbent sentiment national pundits identified in Tuesday’s election apparently didn’t extend to the Valley local races for the Legislature.

When Valley voters were given the option of sticking with an incumbent, they did.

Even in the race for newly minted Senate District F, representing Butte, Fairview and Chugiak, voters picked the closest thing they had to an incumbent. Bill Stoltze drew nearly three quarters of the votes in his apparently successful bid to win promotion from the House of Representatives to the Senate. With all precincts in Wednesday morning, Stoltze garnered 74 percent of the vote to Democrat and retired educator Pat Chesbro’s 26 percent.

The results were a little better for independent candidate and former Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Warren Keogh in the Mat-Su’s other Senate race — Seat E, which represents everywhere from the outskirts of Palmer to Valdez to Talkeetna to Delta Junction. Incumbent Republican Mike Dunleavy had 64 percent of the vote with all but one precinct reporting. Keogh had 36 percent.

House of Representatives

In the House races, the strongest finish for a challenger went to undeclared candidate Verne Rupright, an attorney who was until very recently the mayor of Wasilla, who nevertheless went down hard to incumbent Republican Lynn Gattis. Rupright mustered just 35 percent to Gattis’s 64 percent with all precincts reporting.

Big Lake/Knik incumbent Republican Mark Neuman again defeated Democrat and housewife Pam Rahn — who has challenged him previously. This time, Neuman won 79 percent to 20 percent.

Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Jim Colver, the Republican candidate running in a three-way race, was victorious in the House district representing Chickaloon, Valdez and Delta Junction. His tally stood at 57 percent, well outpacing the 29 percent received by his closest rival, Alaska Constitution Party candidate and Delta Junction resident Pam Goode. The Democrat in the race, Mabel Wimmer, had 13 percent.

Another three-way race for the Houston, Meadow Lakes and Talkeetna seat, saw the Democrat outpacing the undeclared candidate. Former Houston Mayor Roger Purcell was bringing up the rear with 15 percent of the vote. Democrat Neal Lacy had 20 percent and incumbent Republican Wes Keller raked in 65.

In the Greater Palmer district, Republican incumbent Shelley Hughes had 70 percent of the vote to Democrat Pete LaFrance’s 29 with all precincts in.

Last but not least, the Butte/Fairview district, the other race without an incumbent, went to legislative staffer and small business owner Cathy Tilton, who took in 73 percent of votes to Democrat Gretchen Wehmhoff’s 27 percent.

Statewide races

Results won’t be official for weeks with thousands of ballots still to be counted even after all the poll votes are tallied.

But, judging by the election day results, Alaskans in general were much less charitable where incumbents were concerned: both the incumbent U.S. Senator, Democrat Mark Begich, and the incumbent governor, Republican Sean Parnell, trail their opponents, though by relatively tight margins.

Begich trails Republican former Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan 45.13 percent to 48.74 percent. Begich says he won’t concede until all the votes are counted. Its not the first time he’s been behind in the polls and finished on top. Last time he pulled out a squeaker of a victory against the late U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, winning by just a point and a half. Still, the margins here appeared tighter than 2008.

As for Parnell and his fellow Republican running mate, Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, the governor trailed the “Unity Ticket” of independent Bill Walker and Democrat Byron Mallott by less than a percentage point, 46.42 percent to 47.83 percent.

The governor’s race as the qualifying race for third party candidates this year, who needed to pull in 3 percent to become registered parties. The Libertarians appeared to have managed to get re-certified but the Alaska Constitution Party — a lot like the Libertarians in their fiscal conservatism but with more of a Bible-based governing philosophy — failed in its first attempt to get certified. Haines mental health professional and Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate J.R. Myers pulled in just 2.47 percent.

Republican U.S. Rep. Don Young won, but with surprisingly narrow margin of victory for him historically.

The U.S. House race had one of its most dramatic moments in the Valley when remarks Young made before Wasilla High School students on the topic of suicide angered first the students and then the community and then the state. Young later apologized.

Ballot initiatives

Alaskans favored the initiatives on the ballot, seemingly passing all three to legalize marijuana, raise the minimum wage and require legislative approval of mines in the Bristol Bay area. The closest margin was the marijuana initiative, which is up 52 percent to 48 percent.

“Just like Rocky Balboa, you get hit and you keep moving forward. I am very proud of our volunteers and our grassroots campaign,” one of the main players in the “No” on 2 campaign, Palmer’s Erick Cordero, said in a text at 11:10 p.m., Nov. 4 from Election Central in Anchorage after it was clear his side was losing.

The other side was predictably ebullient.

“We made history, Alaska!” Yes on 2 said on Facebook.

The minimum wage and mining initiatives stood at 68 percent to 31 percent and 65 percent to 34 percent respectively.

Judicial retention

Normally the least interesting part of the ballot (at least in Mat-Su) the votes on whether to keep judges on the bench got heated this year.

Of the 10 judges that appeared on Valley ballots, only Palmer’s Bill Estelle got a do-not-retain recommendation from the Alaska Judicial Council. The council cited as its reasons inaccurate pay affidavits the judge turned in. In response, Estelle’s supporters organized a Facebook campaign and barraged news outlets with opinion pieces calling the recommendation unfair, questioning the council’s motives and singing Estelle’s praises.

Voters apparently decided ignore the council’s advice, voting 54 percent to 46 percent to retain Estelle on the District Court.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.