With 20 candidates vying for U.S. Senate, 31 for the U.S. House plus 48 in a special House election, Alaska’s primaries for Congress are not races.
They are political track meets that require voters to do more than pencil in a box next to a favorite candidate’s name.
Alaska’s 552,000 registered voters will need to pull up a lawn chair and take the time for a closer look at candidates running in crowded fields.
No other state has the complex voting system that Alaskans approved in 2020.
Voters will pick just one candidate per race in two separate nonpartisan primary elections this year.
Four finalists from each primary race will advance to general elections.
California and Washington have top two primaries, but Alaska is the only state to hold top four primaries. It is enough to vex the most dedicated voter.
America’s two major parties — Republican and Democratic — traditionally nominate the most popular candidate to run. Neither party can afford a split within its own ranks.
Now ranked choice voting takes some of that control away from the parties and hands it to individual voters.
In 2022, incumbents like Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski — who has comfortably held office for two decades — must fend off multiple challengers from within her own party, as well as from Democrats, Libertarians, Alaska Independents and candidates not aligned with any political party.
For Murkowski supporters, the concern is not so much about splitting the primary vote. It is about squandering it, should four candidates with similar or more popular positions take the top spots in the general election.
With conservative voters expected to hold sway in the primaries, the political website FiveThirtyEight is predicting that Republicans will prevail in Alaska races.
Alaska’s U.S. Senate primary is two months away — on Aug. 16 — which gives voters time to learn about the 20 candidates certified to run.
But that’s where things get complicated.
On the very same day that Alaska holds its primary for state and federal elections, it will have a special general election to pick a candidate to complete the final months of the late Rep. Don Young’s House term.
With so many choices, political observers say it makes sense for voters to do some prep work and learn about the candidates.
Here’s a sampling of some of the U.S. Senate campaigns, including perceived frontrunners as well as some unknowns.
For a complete list of U.S. Senate candidates, go to the Alaska Division of Elections website at www.elections.alaska.gov.
Alaska’s election for U.S. Senate favors the incumbent.
Murkowski is a household name in Alaska. Frank Murkowski — who is Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s father — was serving as U.S. senator in 2002 when he appointed his daughter to the office after he was elected Alaska governor. It was a controversial decision. But she has held onto the seat for 20 years.
Yet 2022 is unlike any other election year in Alaska. Murkowski faces a high-profile challenge from fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka, the only Trump-backed candidate in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race.
Tshibaka, an attorney and former Alaska commissioner, has worked to differentiate herself from Murkowski.
Tshibaka opposes abortion rights while Murkowski has voiced support for codifying abortion protections in U.S. law.
While Tshibaka criticized Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Biden’s pick for the U.S. Supreme Court as a “leftist,” Murkowski was a crucial swing vote for confirmation.
Murkowski led bipartisan efforts to keep the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. She carried the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill that is expected to bring hundreds of millions of dollars in capital projects to Alaska.
While Murkowski has positioned herself as a centrist, there are contenders from both of the major parties who hew to the middle.
On the left, Democrat Pat Chesbro has the support of the state Democratic Party. Chesbro serves on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Planning Commission. She is a retired educator.
Former Seward Mayor Edgar Blatchford is another contender. Blatchford, an Alaska Native, is a former Republican who switched to the Democratic Party in 2016. He previously ran for U.S. Senate and for lieutenant governor.
Other U.S. Senate candidates do not have name recognition, but that has not kept them from knocking on doors and launching websites.
They are “unpoliticians” with no experience in elective office. But they see the new nonpartisan voting system as a more level playing field that gives them a chance.
They include Buzz Kelley, a 65-year-old retired mechanic who worked on the trans-Alaska pipeline. A self-described Christian conservative, Kelley wears a sweatshirt with the words “Hard Right Turn” in his campaign photos.
“It is probably safe to say I support most of the Trump doctrine,” Kelley states on his campaign website, where he describes himself as pro-union and pro-Second Amendment.
Karl Speights is another Republican running to the right of Murkowski. He describes himself as a Christian conservative, military veteran and grandfather. His campaign website identifies Speights as against big government, socialism, cancel culture and abortions.
With so many candidates vying for the attention of voters, even the long-time incumbent seems perplexed over how the election will turn out. There is no certainty.
In an April interview with The New York Times, Murkowski said: “I may be the last man standing. I may not be re-elected.
“It may be that Alaskans say, ‘Nope, we want to go with an absolute, down-the-line, always, always, 100-percent, never-question, rubber-stamp Republican … But I’m going to give them the option.”
