Valley votes split between Romney, Santorum

MAT-SU — Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won Alaska’s Presidential Preference Poll Tuesday, but he only won in half of the Mat-Su Valley’s districts.

According to Alaska Republican Party statistics, Romney won three of the six Valley districts. The other three went to former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum:

• District 6, which rolls Sutton and Chickaloon in with Valdez and Delta Junction, went to Santorum, who finished second overall in Alaska. Santorum pulled in 245 votes in District 6 to Romney’s 236.

• District 7, which represents Wasilla and points north, voted 147 to 109 for Romney over Santorum.

• District 8, which is made up mostly of Palmer, chose Romney by one vote over Santorum, 241 to 240.

• District 9, which is mostly Wasilla, went to Santorum 155 to 139.

• District 10, the Knik-Big Lake district, saw a two-way tie for second place between Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, each of whom took in 101 votes. Romney finished first in District 10 with 142 votes.

• District 11, which encompasses Butte, Fairview Loop and Chugiak, went to Santorum, who brought in 221 votes to Romney’s 185.

The best fourth-place finisher Newt Gingrich did in the Valley was in Palmer, where he took in 101 votes, putting him four votes ahead of Paul.

Alaska’s vote was part of the GOP’s Super Tuesday spate of primary voting.

Romney’s win in Alaska was one of six that night, including Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Ohio and Idaho. He’s been considered the front-runner from the start, but also is seen as having trouble cementing the party’s nomination.

In Tuesday’s polling, Santorum won North Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma. Gingrich won Georgia.