First the good news--from Ivan Moore, an Anchorage pollster and reporter:
http://www.anchoragepress.com/...
Obama got 41 percent of the vote here in Alaska, the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has scored over 40 percent of the vote in Alaska since Hubert Humphrey did in 1968. Seriously. The turnaround of the ship has started!
We have not yet turned far enough yet to even come close to replacing Rep. Don Young, though each year a fine person emerges on the Democratic side for a challenge. This year it was Rep. Sharon Cissna who courageously took on the Transportation Securities Administration (TSA) in order to protect citizens' rights against invasive body searches.
The State Legislature's had a shake-up. Alaska has been upturned by partisan redistricting--so partisan in fact that the State only approved this year's district boundaries as "interim". As a result, some really good legislators in what many deem illegally drawn district lines (according to the Alaska Constitution) lost their seats. This includes two Senators from Fairbanks, Joe Thomas and Joe Paskvan. And Bettye Davis, our only African-American Senator, who lives in Anchorage and whose district was drawn with over 75% new boundaries. Despite that this first-class senior Senator pulled out over 40% of the vote. The net result, however, has been that three Democratic Senators, part of what used to be, Alaska's effective bi-partisan coalition, are now out of office. The legislature now site 13-7 Republican.
Fortunately, the seven are good strong voices, and both Hollis French and Bill Wielechowski survived the egregious changes in their new district lines and prevailed to hold their seats. And at least two of the returning Republicans have been good bi-partisan legislators in the past.
Sometimes, Alaska can teach the rest of the country about bi-partisanship. It was the bi-partisan Senate majority that held strong against R-Gov. Sean Parnell's $2 billion oil tax giveaway proposal last session. We'll see how that all goes this year. Parnell is falling all over himself to give tax breaks to those oil corporations whose money somehow keeps such a sorry guy, even by Alaska standards, in office.
The Anchorage Daily News gives a pretty good rundown of the Alaska House.
http://www.adn.com/...
With most of the vote in on Tuesday night, Republicans were edging out Democrats in more than half the 26 districts with contested races.
But a few races could flip the other way. A young Democrat from Sitka who has never run for office was making a strong run against one of the Legislature's most powerful members, Bill Thomas, who co-chairs the House Finance Committee.
The above named Democrat, Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins from Sitka (the largest community in the newly drawn HD34) currently has a slim 40 vote lead with a thousand absentees to be counted in ten days. If Jonathon maintains his lead, it will be a real shake-up in Alaska politics. If the race remains tight, there will most surely be a recount. Rep. Thomas fought like a bear-cat for a gerry-mandered district in SE and got it. Still Thomas may possibly be defeated by the 23-year old recent Yale graduate (the Alaska of our future) who has earned the respect and vote of the majority of those in his sprawling SE district whose votes have been counted to date.
Whatever the final outcome of that race, Alaska will see a dramatically different House with a number of fresh faces in Juneau.
Of eight open House seats, Republicans were leading or won in five. But Democrats won three of open House seats in Anchorage.
Additional highlights in the Alaska House:
Anchorage:
•With all precincts reporting in Muldoon's District 25, first-term Rep. Lance Pruitt, a Republican, had a 97-vote lead over Rep. Pete Petersen, a Democratic two-term incumbent. This was the biggest money House race this year, with Petersen raising more than $100,000 and Pruitt pulling in nearly $120,000.
Losing Pete Peterson would be big loss for Alaska. Pete's a first-class human being.
In the fight for an open seat in the university and Midtown area, new District 15, Democrat Andy Josephson, an attorney and son of former state Sen. Joe Josephson, was leading Anchorage Assembly member Dick Traini, a Republican.
In District 16, which includes Spenard and Rogers Park, Anchorage Assemblywoman Harriet Drummond, a Democrat and former Anchorage School Board member, stomped Republican Jimmy Crawford, a fourth generation Alaskan.
Drummond, currently serving on the Anchorage Assembly, will bring integrity, street-smarts, and attention to detail to the Alaska House. She usually wins her races by a landslide and this one was no exception.
Democratic Rep. Berta Gardner gave up the seat, in a district with slightly more Democrats than Republicans, to run for state Senate, which Berta won, which is also good news for Alaskans.
In Mountain View and Airport Heights, District 17, Democrat Geran Tarr won over Republican Cean Stevens with most of the precincts in. Tarr is a UAA instructor and former legislative aide. The seat opened up when Democratic Rep. Sharon Cissna made a run for Congress.
Geran Tarr (pronounced as in guaran-tee) will be a smart and savvy and powerful new voice in the Alaska House.
Elsewhere, Republican Reps. Mia Costello, Bob Lynn, Charisse Millett and Craig Johnson were out in front in their races, as were Democratic Reps. Max Gruenberg, Les Gara, Lindsey Holmes and Chris Tuck. Republicans Mike Hawker, whose district stretches to Girdwood, Dan Saddler of Eagle River and Bill Stoltze of Chugiak were unopposed.
Fairbanks:
Besides losing both of their Senators, Fairbanks had a rough time of it in the Alaska House, primarily due to redistricting.
Democratic Rep. David Guttenberg of Fairbanks ultimately pulled ahead of Republican Rep. Alan Dick in the new HD38 stretching from Fairbanks suburbs of Ester and Goldstream to the west coast of Alaska.
Also in the Fairbanks area, Republican Rep. Tammie Wilson of North Pole beat incumbent Democratic Rep. Bob Miller of Fairbanks in District 2. Republicans outnumber Democrats almost 3-to-1 in the district. Rep. Miller is one of Alaska's best legislators and this is huge loss for all of us.
Elsewhere in Fairbanks, Rep. Scott Kawasaki, a Democrat, was holding off a challenge by real estate broker David Pruhs, a Republican who outraised the incumbent $104,000 to $72,000.
Rep. Scott Kawasaki is definitely a legislator worth keeping in Alaska.
Elsewhere:
Elsewhere, Republican Reps. Eric Feige of Chickaloon, Mark Neuman of Wasilla, and Paul Seaton of Homer were fending off challenges, as was Democrat Bryce Edgmon of Dillingman. But many votes were still out in Edgmon's contest.
Republican Reps. Wes Keller of Wasilla, Shelley Hughes of Palmer, Mike Chenault of Nikiski, and Kurt Olson of Soldotna were unopposed. So were Democratic Reps. Bob Herron of Bethel and Neal Foster of Nome. Democrat Bennie Nageak of Barrow also faced no GOP opposition.
Everyone please keep fingers crossed that outstanding human being, Democrat Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins will eventually pull off the biggest upset ever in the history of the Alaska legislature. Jonathon knocked on nearly every door in most of the multiple rural SE communities in HD34 and respectfully listened to the needs and wants of individuals in the communities he intends to represent. His sincerity was recognized as being authentic.
Tue Nov 13, 2012 at 5:50 PM PT: With absentee and questioned ballots in, Rep. Bill Thomas now leads Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins by 2 votes. 4,054 votes to 4,052 votes. We're in this one for the long haul. There is still time for a few more absentees to be counted if they arrive by Friday. And suspect, no matter what there is going to be a recount.
Rep. Bill Thomas the incumbent patrone. Jonathon Kreiss-Tomkins the 23-year old challenger bringing a new style of people-based politics to Alaska.