Incumbent Wrangell Representative Peggy Wilson won the Republican party’s nomination Tuesday, with 986 votes, or about 46 percent.
Ketchikan’s Agnes Moran was second in the GOP race, with 683 votes, and Patti Mackey finished the night in third with 476.
Wilson said she’s excited to win her party’s nomination, and she looks forward to continuing on to November’s general election. She thanked the voters.
“And actually, I also want to thank my opponents for keeping the race focused on the issues and not on personalities,” she said. “People are tired of dirty politics and my opponents are both very fine ladies with many talents. I learned to appreciate and respect both of them.
Wilson plans to take a little break from campaigning, and said she’ll also take down her campaign signs for now, to give the voters a break, too.
In the November 6th election, Wilson will face the Democratic candidate, Ketchikan’s Matt Olsen, who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary. He received all 464 votes cast in that party’s ballot.
The two also will face Ketchikan’s incumbent Rep. Kyle Johansen.
Johansen initially had filed to run in the Republican primary, but pulled out of that race in order to run as an independent in the general election. He gathered signatures of registered voters to get his name on the November ballot.
Johansen told KRBD on Tuesday that the petition had been approved. The state Division of Elections website also has been updated, and shows that he will be on the November ballot.
Wilson said she hopes the campaign will continue to be positive, especially as Johansen was a colleague until redistricting pitted them against each other.
“Kyle and I have been friends in the past and I just hope that campaign can be like this one: A good campaign that doesn’t get into personalities or anything like that,” she said.
The recent state redistricting changed legislative boundaries all over Alaska. Ketchikan’s House District 1 and Wrangell’s House District 2 were combined to form the new House District 33.
Also in the new district are Hyder and some Prince of Wales Island communities.
The districts in this election are based on interim boundaries. The state Supreme Court still has to approve a permanent plan, which could end up with different district boundary lines.
