Alaska held its primaries on August 22. Alyse Galvin, a registered independent, defeated three opponents to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. House. See this story. Because she is the Democratic nominee, her label on the November ballot will be “Democrat”.
Here is a link to the primary election returns. In Alaska, there is a Republican primary ballot. Also there is a blanket primary ballot used by the Democratic, Libertarian, and Alaskan Independence Parties. Any voter can choose the primary ballot. Only registered Republicans and registered independents may choose a Republican primary ballot.
Very evil cute machinations in frozen AK land.
ONE voter per 100 SQ miles – outside of Anchorage/Juneau/Fairbanks ???
IE AK should still be a USA Territory — like about 10-15 other LOW population States.
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NO primaries
PR and AppV
Galvin is registered as “undeclared” rather than “nonpartisan”, certainly not “independent”.
The ballot greatly de-emphasized the affiliation of the candidate relative to the nomination they sought. Galvin had a (U) next to her name, but Alaska Democratic Primary has spelled out to the right.
There were 5 non-Democrats who secured Democratic nomination to the Alaska House, generally in Republican areas where a Democratic nominee has no hope. I suspect that these candidates took advantage of the Democratic party rules which were likely intended to get Bill Walker to seek the Democratic nomination.
There were 3 Republicans and 2 Independents who joined the House Majority Caucus. Of the three Republicans, two sought nomination as Republican, and one switched to Nonpartisan and sought the Democratic nomination. One of the Republicans was nominated, and the other appears to have been defeated in a close race (3 votes). The now-Nonpartisan won the Democratic primary, but likely will be defeated in the general election.
There are also two independent representatives who are seeking re-election. Democrats were nominated in both districts, whereas in 2016 there was no Democrat candidate. Perhaps they are spoiler candidates.
Top 2 is sometimes referred to as a “jungle primary”. Perhaps political scientist should refer to the Alaska system as a “circus primary”.
ZOO primary ??? —
Donkeys, Elephants, bears, wolves, eagles, etc. in AK land.
And if she wins the general, will she be listed as an Independent (or, as Jim points out, “U”)? By running in their primary, she is now officially affiliated with the Dems, so cannot possibly be considered nonpartisan, U or independent. Rather ironic that the circus has now banned elephant acts. God forbid they add a donkey show.
Gosh… the memories! I saw the donkey show in Tijuana years ago!
@Jeff Becker,
The Democratic Party had hoped that Bill Walker would run as their nominee. Bill Walker was a registered Republican, but ran as a petition candidate in 2014. The Democrats had no hope of winning, so they arranged a deal where the Democratic nominee for governor, Byron Mallot, agreed to run as Walker’s running mate. Walker was required to change his registration to undeclared, and the Democrats did not choose a replacement nominee.
The Democrats had hoped to do a similar thing this year, but had to prevent anyone from being nominated (Mallot’s withdrawal as Democratic nominee was voluntary).
Alaska used to have a blanket primary. After ‘California Democratic Party v Jones’ they were going to switch to a conventional primary. The Green Party sued to permit anyone to vote in their primary. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the Alaska Constitution afforded greater political association rights than the US Constitution. Subsequently, the Alaskan Independence, Libertarian, and Democratic parties opened up their primaries to anybody, while the Republicans opened their primary to non-affiliated voters. Since then, the Green Party is no longer qualified in Alaska. A voter in Alaska may choose an ADL (Alaska Independence, Democratic, Libertarian) ballot, or if they are a Republican or independent, a Republican ballot.
The Democrats changed their rules to permit Nonpartisan and Undeclared candidates to run for the Democratic nomination. Moreover, the party rules said that the nominee would appear on the general election ballot as an independent. Walker could have then won the Democratic Primary, preventing a real Democrat from being nominated, but appeared on the general election ballot as Nonpartisan.
The Alaska courts ruled that the Democratic Party could open their primary to non-Democratic candidates, but said that they would have to appear on the general election ballot as the Democrat nominee. That is, the Democratic Party could determine who could vote and run for their nomination, but their nominee had to be portrayed as being their nominee.
Walker then decided to not run in the Democratic Primary for governor since he didn’t want to appear on the general election ballot as Democrat, plus Mark Begich who was formerly US Senator and Anchorage Mayor was running for governor. It is possible that Walker would have lost the primary.