Former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan is running against U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Republican Primary.
Sullivan filed minutes before the 5 p.m. deadline for getting on the ballot. It took the state Division of Elections some time to include Sullivan’s name on its list of candidates.
So Alaska Dispatch News reporter Nat Herz broke the news on Twitter, with a photo of Sullivan’s declaration of candidacy, and a photo of the former mayor standing at the Division of Elections counter.
If Sullivan were to win the Primary and the General, Alaska would have two Republican U.S. senators named “Dan Sullivan.” 
Earlier, Murkowski picked up two new Democratic challengers: UAA professor Edgar Blatchford and former legislator Ray Metcalfe. Both men have Republican roots. Blatchford served as a Commerce Commissioner for Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski and in the cabinet of Gov. Wally Hickel. He, like many candidates this year, says he wants to break partisan gridlock, and, Blatchford added, stop government-bashing.
“We beat up on the U.S. government. For Pete’s sake it’s our government,” he said. “We’ve got to stop this and come to the table and start talking to each other.”
Anyone challenging Murkowski now starts at a huge disadvantage. She’s raised about $4 million. Blatchford says it’s not all about money.
“I think if an Alaskan gives a dollar, that is much more than a thousand dollars or a million dollars that’s been donated from people that live elsewhere,” he said.
Blatchford has been mayor of Seward, board chairman of Chugach Alaska Native Corporation and a publisher of newspapers serving rural Alaska. Blatchford now owns two small newspapers and teaches journalism and Native studies.
Ray Metcalfe was twice elected to the state House, in the late ’70s and early ’80s. He was a Republican then. He later founded his own party, the Republican Moderate Party of Alaska. He’s an Anchorage real estate broker. Two hours before the filing deadline, Metcalfe said he was running for U.S. Senate, not necessarily against Murkowski, because, he said, she hasn’t won a spot on the General Election ballot yet.
“So just on the chance that she might lose, I don’t think it’s out of the questions that I’d have an opportunity to be successful,” he said.
Even if Murkowski wins her primary, Metcalfe says he still stands a chance because of all the excited Bernie Sanders supporters.
“We’re hoping to ride Bernie’s coattails a little bit,” he said. “I was a delegate for Bernie at the state convention.”
Anchorage immigration attorney Margaret Stock is also running for U.S. Senate, as an independent.
The other Republicans challenging Murkowski are Paul Kendall, Thomas Lamb and Bob Lochner.
Meanwhile, Vince Beltrami has filed to run for state Senate, challenging Anchorage. Republican Sen.
Cathy Giessel. Beltrami is president of the Alaska AFL-CIO and a long-time Democrat, but he is running as a non-partisan.
No incumbent is running in the Senate district covering Downtown Anchorage. After 30 years in the Legislature, Sen. Johnny Ellis announced today he will not seek re-election. Democrat Tom Begich, brother of former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, has filed for it, as has Ed Wesley, the newly named as the Democratic National Committeeman. Just before the deadline, no Republican had filed for that seat.
In the Valley, Rep. Lynn Gattis, R-Wasilla, is running for Senate. She hopes to replace Sen. Charlie Huggins, a Republican who has been in office since 2004 but is not running again.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
