4 Special Coverage

Five years ago, Matt Salisbury moved to Alaska. Now, the 30-year-old insurance adjuster and moderate Republican is in position to finish among the final four candidates in the race for the state’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As of Thursday evening, Salisbury had 602 votes in Alaska’s primary election, well behind incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola, with 48,590 votes; Republican challenger Nick Begich, with 26,002; and Nancy Dahlstrom, 19,256.

Under Alaska’s election system, that vote differential doesn’t matter: the top four candidates in the primary election advance to November’s general election.

Thousands of absentee and questioned ballots have yet to be counted, but for the moment, Salisbury is in the No. 4 spot, 55 votes ahead of John Wayne Howe, head of the Alaskan Independence Party.

“I don’t know if I would say I was expecting it,” Salisbury said when reached by phone on Thursday morning. “I believed that I would be (in the top four), but I went in with no expectations.”

Salisbury has identified as Republican since he was 18, he said, and he holds to the traditional Republican Party belief that individual liberty is the best approach to government.

But he also brings a twist to that idea: Individual liberty isn’t possible, he said, without financial liberty. That requires constraining the big businesses that might squash free enterprise.

“It’s no longer free to engage in an enterprise if it’s just held by a few corporations,” he said.

The pending merger of Kroger and Albertsons, two Alaska-based grocery stores, concerns him because it could limit competition and result in higher prices here.

“To truly be a free society, we have to make sure that it’s a fair playing field,” he said.

When Salisbury thinks of great Republicans, he thinks of Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, he said.

“At the later point in his career, (Roosevelt) wanted to battle corporations on behalf of the people, and he split from the ticket when the party didn’t want to embrace that change, and I’m not willing to split from the Republican ticket,” Salisbury said.

He said he sees a lot of people use the term RINO, or “Republican in Name Only” for Republicans who don’t follow the party line exactly.

“I want to say I’m not a RINO. I’m a bull moose,” Salisbury said.

Roosevelt ran on the “Bull Moose Party” ticket in 1912, and Salisbury’s website, jointhemoose.com, features a computer-generated picture of Roosevelt riding a bull moose.

Salisbury’s simple three-item platform is aligned with his beliefs: end bottom trawling, properly fund Social Security, and end corporate ownership of single-family homes.

Born in Atlanta in 1993, Salisbury grew up in that city and attended the University of Georgia, majoring in economics.

During that time, wrote a thesis about Alaska’s fishing industry and concluded that the best way to help Alaska’s family fishers and the declining salmon returns is to eliminate bottom trawling and the bycatch that comes with it.

Salisbury supported Peltola two years ago, he said, but he was inspired to run as a candidate this year because he was frustrated with legislation she introduced in May.

Peltola has run as a “pro-fish” candidate, but Salisbury said her approach to trawling isn’t substantial.

He said he doesn’t feel adequately represented by Dahlstrom, who “was picked by the Republican establishment, which I think is just as swampy as everyone else.”

He also doesn’t feel represented by Nick Begich, who comes from a longtime Alaska political family and is personally wealthy.

“He comes from a place of privilege, and how can somebody like that relate to me and the struggle that everyday Alaskans face? I mean, I’m talking to you on my lunch break,” Salisbury said by phone.

The former Georgian arrived in Alaska for the first time in December 2014 after becoming infatuated with stories, movies and other media about the state, including the example of Dick Proenneke.

Salisbury’s arrival in Alaska was unforgettable, he said. “It was my first white Christmas ever.”

He spent the winter in the state, but a family tragedy meant he had to move away.

“But the bug never left,” he said, “and on a hot summer day — 95 degrees — I made the decision that it’s now time to go back to Alaska.”

He returned in 2019, driving 12 days across the United States with his dog, and he’s spent the time since then as an insurance adjuster, traveling across the state.

“It’s been an absolute blessing to be able to go through the Kenai Peninsula, up through the Interior to the Western communities and down to Southeast,” he said.

He bought a starter home in the Matanuska Valley, close to Finger Lakes, and got involved with local groups, including the Elks.

“I love fishing — I’m not very good at catching, though. … There’s something about the fight and then landing one that just really gives you that adrenaline rush. I love hiking and I love live music,” he said.

Reggae is his “bread and butter,” he said, but he likes almost everything.

“You’ll catch me dancing to ‘September’ by Earth, Wind and Fire; Kendrick Lamar; “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan … I just have a very wide taste in what I like,” he said.

Salisbury’s time in Alaska hasn’t been entirely smooth. In 2022, after a “phenomenal first date” in Homer, he was pulled over by police for speeding and charged with drunken driving and possessing a weapon while intoxicated.

“It’s shameful, and I’m not proud of it, but it was a mistake that I made, and I own it,” he said. “I did my punishment, and I’ve got my license back.”

After he sold his starter home in the Mat-Su, Salisbury found it difficult to afford a new house, and even rent was expensive. That experience caused him to oppose corporate homeownership as a way to drive down rent and housing costs.

“I really think that owning property is a way to financial freedom, and I have concerns that we are being pushed into a place where renters are being reduced down to numbers instead of people,” he said.

Salisbury said he’s concerned that the federal government is willing to authorize spending increases for wars, including in the Middle East and Ukraine, but is reluctant to pay for services given to Americans, including Social Security.

“I have a hard time driving through Anchorage and watching people live in tents and go hungry and struggle with mental illness and addiction, and we have no resources for these people,” he said.

When it comes to the presidential race, Salisbury said he isn’t endorsing or backing either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump.

He said he thinks it’s important to have the ability to work with people, even if he doesn’t agree with them.

“Those are still Americans, they’re still our neighbors, and we can be respectful when we disagree, and we can work together through problems to make an amiable solution for everybody,” he said.

A ballot measure that could repeal Alaska’s ranked choice election system is headed to a vote in November, the Alaska Supreme Court confirmed Thursday.

In a brief order, the court’s five members upheld a lower court decision that certified Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the laws that created the state’s ranked choice general election and open primary election.

The order came shortly after justices heard oral arguments in an appeal claiming that the Alaska Division of Elections improperly certified the measure.

“Today the Court quickly affirmed that the Division of Elections properly interpreted and applied the law in qualifying this initiative for the November ballot,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General Lael Harrison, in a statement issued by email. “The Department of Law is grateful to the Court for their timely review and decision on this issue, in plenty of time for the Division’s upcoming ballot printing deadlines.”

At issue in the appeal was whether the Division of Elections could legally allow petitioners to correct some flaws with petition signature books after they had been submitted to the division.

Plaintiffs had argued that the division did not have the power to allow post-deadline corrections under existing law, something the division has allowed since at least 2019.

If plaintiffs had won, the division would have been required to discard some petition books, denying repeal supporters enough signatures for a vote this fall.

Justices did not immediately explain their reasoning issued Thursday afternoon but said they affirm the lower court’s decision.

“I was very pleased the court was able to so quickly see through the smoke the other side was putting out,” said former Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson, who represented proponents of the repeal. “Their questions at oral argument were very focused and demonstrated they understood the heart of the statutory interpretation issue they were being presented.”

Plaintiffs were represented by attorney Scott Kendall, who wrote portions of the state’s current election laws. Those were enacted by a different ballot measure in 2020.

By text message, Kendall said he appreciates the fast ruling but that plaintiffs are disappointed by the ruling.

“We do not yet know the Court’s reasoning, but despite demonstrated irregularities in the Division of Elections’ handling of the … petition, they were obviously unwilling to reverse the superior court,” he said.

He noted that repeal backers are still in court, facing fines of nearly $100,000 after Alaska’s campaign finance regulator cited them for illegal fundraising.

Last updated: 8 a.m. Wednesday, August 21

Results are rolling for Tuesday’s primary election, the first time in the 2024 cycle that voters have a chance to weigh in on races for the Alaska House and Senate.

An Eagle River Republican senator who has worked across the aisle is in a tight race against a conservative challenger, and a Democrat has an early lead for an Interior state House seat in a field that includes four Republicans.

The results “are very encouraging for a bipartisan coalition to continue in the Senate,” Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, a senior member of the 17-member majority caucus, said in a text message.

House Majority Leader Dan Saddler, R-Eagle River, said he, too, was encouraged by the results.

“It’s probably premature to make a solid prediction, but I’m feeling confidence with the results we see in the primary,” Saddler said by phone.

Here are some more takeaways from the results.

But first, one thing to keep in mind: Absentee ballots will continue to be counted through Aug. 30, and the results will not become official until certified in early September, according to the Division of Elections — so what we see tonight could change as more ballots are counted.

There are just three races that will see candidates eliminated following the primary: the U.S. House race, a state Senate race and a state House race. Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola leads in the U.S. House race, followed by Republicans Nick Begich and Nancy Dahlstrom.

A close Senate race in Eagle River

In Senate District L, covering Eagle River, Republican Sen. Kelly Merrick is in a tight race against three conservative challengers and one Democrat with roughly a third of the vote. Merrick has come under attack from three of her four challengers, all Republicans, for joining a bipartisan majority caucus.

Merrick’s chief competition comes from Jared Goecker, who is roughly even with her as of late Tuesday night.

Merrick has defended her decision to join the majority, saying she would not have been as effective a legislator had she been relegated to the minority, but Goecker and others cast her decision as a betrayal of conservative voters.

Democrat Lee Hammermeister is in third, followed by two former Republican House members: Ken McCarty in fourth and Sharon Jackson in fifth.

Democrat leads in six-way Interior House race

The only other state legislative race that will see candidates eliminated in the primary is for the vast, rural House District 36, covering areas of the Interior from Glennallen to Delta Junction, Tok, Fort Yukon and Ruby. The race features four Republicans, one Democrat and a Libertarian. There’s no incumbent in the race, as Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, withdrew to run for an Interior Senate seat.

Democrat Brandon Putuuqti Kowalski has the lead with about a third of the vote.

Kowalski, a former graduate research assistant who now works as a structural welder, pledged to “work across the aisle to fight for our region” in his official candidate statement. He told voters he supports increasing state education funding for public schools, restoring a defined-benefit retirement system for state workers and expanding the state’s substitute for Social Security known as the Supplemental Benefits System. An Iñupiaq man born in Fairbanks and raised in Kotzebue, Kowalski said he would work to preserve subsistence opportunities and traditional ways of life while elevating tribal voices.

The four Republicans in the race are closely split, each with between 10% and 20% of the vote so far.

Libertarian James Fields is a distant sixth.

Other highlights — and a note of caution

In other races, while no candidates will be eliminated, the primary results could be an early indication of where voters are leaning ahead of November’s ranked choice general election. But it’s far from a perfect forecast of the race ahead — primaries are typically low-turnout affairs, and candidates who have lagged in the primary race have sometimes come back to beat the field in the general election. Democratic political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt likened the primary results to the 200-meter split in a 400-meter race.

In Senate District H, which includes the Anchorage neighborhoods of Sand Lake and Campbell Lake and residents near Ted Stevens International Airport, the Democratic incumbent Sen. Matt Claman has a substantial lead. Claman, a member of the bipartisan majority caucus, has roughly 60% with all 13 precincts reporting, though roughly 20% of registered voters cast ballots in the race.

Claman led a successful push to stiffen criminal laws during the most recent legislative session and counts public safety, fiscal responsibility and quality education as his top priorities.

Rep. Tom McKay, a Republican who ended his House reelection bid to challenge Claman, is in second place with 21%. McKay had pledged to drop out of the race if he came in third, though fellow Republican Liz Vazquez, who is in third with roughly 19%, has not made a similar commitment.

In House District 10, including the Oceanview and Klatt areas of Anchorage, the incumbent is trailing by a substantial margin. House Rules Committee Chair Rep. Craig Johnson, a Republican, is running behind former Rep. Chuck Kopp, who has positioned himself as a more moderate Republican. Kopp has 61% of the vote with all precincts reporting, though turnout is at just 16%.

In the race to replace McKay in House District 15, former Republican Sen. Mia Costello leads with roughly 51% of the vote. Democrat Denny Wells has 44%. Wells ran for the seat in 2022 and lost to McKay by just a handful of votes. Turnout is roughly 18%.

Independent Ky Holland has 40% of the vote in the race for House District 9, which includes South Anchorage, Turnagain Arm and Whittier. He’s followed by Republicans Lucy Bauer, Lee Ellis and Brandy Pennington, who each have roughly 20%. The seat is currently held by Rep. Laddie Shaw, who is not running for another term.

Rep. Stanley Wright, a Republican representing North Muldoon, is in a roughly 50-50 race against Democratic challenger Ted Eischeid — but fewer than 8% of registered voters cast ballots in that race.

On the Kenai Peninsula, incumbent Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, a member of the bipartisan majority, has a narrow lead over his more conservative challenger, Rep. Ben Carpenter, R-Nikiski. Incumbent Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer has a nearly 10-point lead in a four-candidate field for a seat representing the southern Kenai Peninsula. Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, has a 20-point lead over conservative challenger Ron Gillham.

In Wasilla’s Senate District N race, incumbent Sen. David Wilson, another member of the bipartisan majority caucus, has more than 40% of the vote in a race against two Republican challengers, Robert Yundt and Stephen Wright.

Another bipartisan Senate majority member, Republican Sen. James Kaufman of Anchorage, is trailing Democrat Janice Park in a tight race for District F, representing Far North Bicentennial Park and the Lower Hillside. Park is ahead by roughly 3 percentage points.

In Fairbanks, Democratic Sen. Scott Kawasaki, another bipartisan majority member, trails Republican challenger Leslie Hajdukovich by a slim margin. In the Downtown Fairbanks House race, incumbent Democratic Rep. Maxine Dibert has a narrow lead over the Republican former Rep. Bart LeBon in a seat Republicans view as a pickup opportunity.

In the Interior Senate district previously held by outgoing Republican Sen. Click Bishop, Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly presiding officer Savannah Fletcher, an independent, is in a tight race with Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok.

In a three-person race to represent southern Southeast Alaska’s House District 1, Republican borough assembly member and second-time House candidate Jeremy Bynum is off to a big lead with about 50% of the vote over a pair of independent candidates: Ketchikan assembly colleague Grant EchoHawk and regional nonprofit leader Agnes Moran. They’re vying for a seat representing Ketchikan, Wrangell and Coffman Cove. The seat is currently held by Ketchikan independent Rep. Dan Ortiz, who announced this year he would not run for reelection.

For a full list of results, check the Division of Elections’ website.

Ballots counted so far show Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola leading in Alaska’s nonpartisan primary Tuesday, followed by Republican challenger Nick Begich III.

If the results hold, their names will appear on the November ballot, along with Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and a fourth candidate, which is too close to call right now.

With nearly all precincts counted, Peltola had 50% of the vote, Begich 27% and Dahlstrom about 20%.

The finish order is not a surprise. Begich had pledged to drop out if he finished behind Dahlstrom. But Dahlstrom made no similar pledge, so they are both likely to remain in the competition for Alaska’s sole seat in the U.S. House.

Political consultant Jim Lottsfeldt founded a pro-Peltola super PAC. He said it was a good showing for Peltola, especially since conservative voters had more of a rivalry to weigh in on.

“There was no one she had to compete with on her political spectrum, let’s say, and so there wasn’t a compelling reason for, you know, center-left folks to beat feet into this primary,” he said.

The primary prunes the list of congressional candidates from a dozen to four. Beyond that, it serves as something of a statewide poll for the November election. But Lottsfeldt said its value as a poll is limited, because a very different population of voters will turn out in November, when the presidency will be at stake.

“Maybe since we’re coming out of the Olympics, a better comparison is, it’s a 400-meter race, and this is the time split at 200 meters,” Lottsfeldt said. “And that’s interesting, but it doesn’t really tell you how the next 200 meters are going to go.”

The top-three congressional candidates are running million-dollar campaigns. Or, in the case of Peltola, a $7 million-campaign.

The fourth-place finisher could be Palmer Republican Matthew Salisbury, John Wayne Howe of the Alaska Independence Party, or Republican Gerald Heikes of Palmer, a frequent candidate who ran a low- or no-budget campaign. Heikes got a boost in name recognition in recent weeks thanks to $300,000 in negative advertising aimed at him. A pro-Peltola super PAC Lottsfeldt founded ran an ad urging voters to reject Heikes, billing him as “a conservative candidate on abortion.”

Lottsfeldt said going after an unknown candidate, and putting his name in bold next to more prominent Republicans, makes sense for his political action committee, called Vote Alaska before Party.

“It’s saying, ‘Look at the conservative candidates. They’re all terrible on abortion,’” Lottsfeldt said.

Republican strategist Matt Shuckerow suspects another motive behind the anti-Heikes ads.

“I think that’s an effort to propel him to advance to the general election,” he said. “Why would they do that? I think that they would like to … have one Democrat, Mary Peltola, run against three Republicans, so they will ultimately split the vote.”

Republicans could avoid splitting their votes in November by making use of ranked choice voting. But the voting method is deeply unpopular among conservatives and some voters refuse to do it.

Shuckerow said there’s not a lot at stake in this primary, since few races have more than four candidates, and the congressional contest has only three contenders with money to campaign on. But he thinks the primary will provide a rich trove of data for campaigns.

“It can tell you if you have a major issue that you haven’t seen, that you’re losing the confidence of votes of certain demographics, so that also is helpful,” he said. “The other thing is that the primary, in being viewed as a poll, it can show you areas where you’re weak, where you had low turnout, where you had folks in certain precincts that didn’t turn out that you needed to do better with. That’s also very important.”

The Division of Election will continue counting ballots until Aug. 30 and expects to certify the results Sept. 1.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

The U.S. Justice Department plans to monitor operations at polling places in parts of rural Alaska on Tuesday, the state’s primary election day, for compliance with the federal Voting Rights Act.

Monitors have been assigned to majority-Native districts to check for compliance with the requirements for language translations and assistance, including provisions concerning different Yup’ik dialects, the department said on Monday.

The sites selected are the Bethel Census Area, Dillingham Census Area, Kusilvak Census Area, Nome Census Area and North Slope Borough.

Tuesday’s monitoring is similar to efforts in previous elections.

In the past, Yup’ik speakers did not get adequate assistance when they voted in Alaska elections, a federal court found. A 2013 federal lawsuit filed by Yup’ik speakers resulted in a 2014 ruling in favor of the plaintiffs. A 2015 settlement agreement followed, and that agreement was extended last year, with terms to remain in place through 2026, according to the Native American Rights Fund.

Other violations in past Alaska elections concern access for disabled voters, according to the Justice Department. A department investigation found that some polling sites and online resources failed to adequately serve disabled Alaskans trying to vote in 2022 and 2024. The Justice Department called for the Division of Elections to improve conditions at cited polling stations and update its online information.

Alaskans have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to vote in the state’s top-four primary election.

Here are three things to know:

What are we voting on?

Tuesday’s primary election, featuring candidates from all parties, will narrow the field to no more than four candidates in each race ahead of the ranked choice general election in November.

Alaska’s sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, all 40 state House seats and 10 state Senate seats will be on the primary ballot. But just three of those races will see candidates eliminated. Those races are:

1. The 12-way race for U.S. House, where Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola is seeking reelection against a field that includes Republicans Nick Begich and Nancy Dahlstrom. That’s a statewide race, so every primary voter will have a chance to weigh in.
2. The race for state Senate District L in Eagle River, where Republican Sen. Kelly Merrick is making a bid for another term against four challengers.
3. The race for an open state House race representing District 36, covering a broad swath of the Interior. Six candidates are running for the seat, which is currently held by Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok. Cronk is vacating the seat to run for the state Senate.

However, even in races with four or fewer candidates, the primary may be an early indicator of voter enthusiasm and some Republican candidates have pledged to withdraw if they don’t receive the most votes among fellow party members. Most notably, Begich has said he’ll drop out of the U.S. House race if he is bested by Dahlstrom.

You can find your sample ballot at the Alaska Division of Elections’ website. Ballots are available in English and, for some districts, in other languages — Chevak Cup´ik, Filipino (Tagalog), Northern Inupiaq, Nunivak Cup’ig and six dialects of Yup’ik.

How do I vote?

On primary day — Tuesday, Aug. 20 — polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters must be 18 or older and have registered to vote at least 30 days before the election. For the primary, the registration deadline was July 21.

If you’re not sure where your polling place is, or whether you’re registered, you can check the My Voter Portal on the Division of Elections website. That portal also indicates your state House district.

Voters need to bring a form of ID to the polling place. That can include a driver’s license or state ID card, a military ID, a voter registration card, a hunting or fishing license, a birth certificate or a utility bill, government check, bank statement, paycheck or another government document that includes the voter’s name and current address, according to the Division of Elections.

On the ballot, you’ll select one candidate in each race who you’d like to see advance to the general election. The primary, unlike the general election in November, is not a ranked choice election, so be sure to make only one selection per race.

Many candidates have responded to a questionnaire from the Alaska Beacon outlining their positions on the issues.

Unless you specifically requested and received an absentee ballot for this election, you’ll have to go to a polling place to vote. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday, August 20, but can arrive up to 10 days later.

When will we know the results?

Ballot counting takes some time, especially since absentee ballots can arrive up to 10 days after the election, but there will be a substantial number of votes tallied on Tuesday.

State elections officials say the first batch of results is expected to be posted to the Division of Elections’ website sometime after 9 p.m. Tuesday. The results reported Tuesday will include votes cast in person on Tuesday, plus early votes cast at designated “Early Vote Locations,” which are found in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, the Mat-Su, the Kenai Peninsula and Nome.

Tuesday’s results will also include some, but not all, absentee-by-mail and absentee-in-person ballots. Absentee-in-person voting is a common method of early voting in many rural communities.

Historically, updates have continued into the early morning hours on Wednesday.

Elections officials will continue counting absentee ballots through Aug. 30. As more absentee ballots are counted, state officials plan to release another batch of results on Aug. 27 and a final count 10 days after the election on Aug. 30.

The results do not become official until they’re certified by the State Review Board, which the state anticipates happening on Sept. 1.

Keep an eye on alaskapublic.org for takeaways from this year’s primaries.