Two Alaska House Democrats appear to have lost their seats, flipping party control of one of them, according to unofficial results posted by the Alaska Division of Election on Wednesday.
North Anchorage Rep. Cliff Groh lost by 23 votes to Republican challenger David Nelson in the final unofficial count. Groh had maintained a slim lead since election night. Wednesday’s final count was the first time the race tilted toward Nelson.
Groh was one of 22 members of a Democrat-heavy bipartisan caucus that is seeking to take control of the Alaska House of Representatives from a Republican-led coalition. Groh’s loss leaves an apparent count of 21 Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans in the caucus, a bare majority in the 40-member House.
In the four-way race for House District 38, Bethel Rep. CJ McCormick trails fellow Democrat Nellie Jimmie by 58 votes following ranked choice tabulation. But election officials say the tabulation run Wednesday did not include all ballots cast in that race. A final count is expected ahead of election certification scheduled for the end of this month.
Ranked choice tabulation determined the winner Wednesday of seven other legislative races where no candidate got more than 50% of the vote, plus it determined the winner of the U.S. House race, giving Republican Nick Begich III a victory over Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola.
Here’s who won the state House and Senate contests that went to ranked choice tabulation. In all cases, the candidate with the most votes ahead of tabulation wound up winning.
- In Senate District D, a northern and central Kenai Peninsula race that includes incumbent Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and conservative challenger Ben Carpenter, both Republicans, and Democrat Tina Wegener, Bjorkman held on to win, besting Carpenter by a margin of 54.7% to 45.3% in the final round of tabulation.
- In Senate District F, on the Anchorage Hillside, where incumbent Republican Sen. James Kaufman faced Democrat Janice Park and Republican Harold Borbridge, Kaufman maintained his lead to beat Park in the final round, 52.8% to 47.2%.
- In the Senate District L race to represent Chugiak-Eagle River, where incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Merrick faced conservative Republican challenger Jared Goecker and Democrat Lee Hammermeister, Merrick came out on top over Goecker in the final round, 55.5% to 44.5%.
- In House District 6, including Homer and the southern Kenai Peninsula, where incumbent Republican Rep. Sarah Vance was challenged by independent Brent Johnson and Republican Dawson Slaughter, Vance won over Johnson in the final round, 52.3% to 47.7%
- In House District 28, an all-Republican race for an open seat in Wasilla that includes Elexie Moore, Steve Menard and Jessica Wright, Moore won over Menard in the final round, 50.1% to 49.9%, a difference of 13 votes.
Three other races were tabulated despite the Division of Elections not having a complete count of the voters’ ranked choices.
Though election officials have a count of first-choice votes from those districts, which call in their preliminary results by phone, the Division of Elections has not received the paper ballots by mail from some rural Alaska polling stations. The paper ballots must be scanned to account for voters’ second, third and fourth choices, said Brian Jackson, the election program manager at the division.
“The manually entered votes are not included in the ranked choice tabulation,” he said in a brief interview at Division of Elections headquarters in Juneau.
That said, here are the preliminary results of tabulation in those races:
- In House District 36, covering a wide swath of the Interior stretching from Glennallen to Delta Junction to the Yukon River drainage, where Republican Rebecca Schwanke, Democrat Brandon Putuuqti Kowalski, Republican Pamela Goode and Libertarian James Fields competed for an open seat, Schwanke won over Kowalski in the final round, 56.6% to 43.4%.
- In House District 38, the Lower Kuskokwim, where Democrat Nellie Unangik Jimmie faced incumbent Democratic Rep. CJ McCormick, Veterans Party candidate Willy Keppel and Democrat Victoria Sosa. Jimmie bested McCormick in the final round, 51% to 49%.
- In House District 40, the North Slope and Northwest Arctic, where Democrats Robyn Niayuq Burke and Saima Ikrik Chase faced Republican-turned-independent Rep. Thomas Ikaaq Baker, Burke won over Chase in the final round, 60.1% to 39.9%.
It was not clear Wednesday how many ballots remained untabulated, nor whether they could have a significant impact on the results.
The Division of Elections plans to run a final tabulation before certifying the election. Certification is planned for Nov. 30, though the date could change as the State Review Board performs its audit and other post-election quality control procedures.
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