The Republican primary race for Matanusaka Valley’s state House District 11 ended with incumbent Republican Bill Stoltze easily defeating challeger Tom Connelly. Stoltze, who has served in the legislature since his 2002 election, came out of Tuesday’s primary with 82% of the vote. Stoltze gained 1585 votes, compared with Connelly’s 348 votes. Connelly had promoted big infrastructure projects as part of his campaign, while Stoltze, a long time member of the House finance committee, stressed the importance of neighborhood road and safety programs.
In other Valley election news, Lynn Gattis defeated Mark Ewing for the Republican candidacy for House District 9. Gattis scored a little more than 60% of the vote, with 931 votes, while Ewing 612 votes represented 39.6 percent of the ballots cast.
APTI Reporter-Producer Ellen Lockyer started her radio career in the late 1980s, after a stint at bush Alaska weekly newspapers, the Copper Valley Views and the Cordova Times. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Valdez Public Radio station KCHU needed a reporter, and Ellen picked up the microphone.
Since then, she has literally traveled the length of the state, from Attu to Eagle and from Barrow to Juneau, covering Alaska stories on the ground for the AK show, Alaska News Nightly, the Alaska Morning News and for Anchorage public radio station, KSKA
elockyer (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8446 | About Ellen
