Alaska may have gone to the Republicans this election, but according to the latest data from the Division of Elections, Juneau went to the Democrats.
Both Districts 33, which includes downtown Juneau, Douglas and several Southeast communities, and District 34, which includes the Mendenhall Valley and other northern Juneau neighborhoods, favored Democrat Joe Biden for president and Democratic Party-endorsed independents Al Gross for Senate and Alyse Galvin for the House of Representatives.
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire A handful of Trump supporters gathered on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol Saturday, Nov. 7, 2020, following the announcement from several news agencies Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the 2020 General Election. President Donald Trump handily won Alaska, according to Division of Elections data, but Biden was favored by voters in Juneau.
District 34 had a stronger showing for Republicans than District 33, but not enough to take the whole district, according to unofficial results. In District 34, Trump received 42% of the vote compared to the 27% he won in District 33.
The coronavirus pandemic meant this year there was an exceptionally large number of by-mail ballots, which under Alaska law, could not be counted until seven days after the election. This year Division of Elections received nearly 100,000 by-mail ballots, according to data from the division, up from 22,000 in 2018 and 27,000 in 2016. Juneau’s voter turnout in this election was higher than the 2016 election. In that year, 16,000 votes were cast in Juneau’s two districts according to DOE data, and this year officials counted 19,987 votes already though results have not yet been certified.
Republicans took an early lead statewide, and even as more ballots came in and Democrats saw their overall numbers rise, it seems in the end it was not enough to shift the outcome of statewide races.
Both Gross and Galvin conceded their races Friday, two days after the Associated Press and other news outlets had declared victory for their incumbent Republican opponents, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Don Young.
[New results shift results of some House races]
“I’m incredibly proud of the campaign we ran,” Gross said in a statement Friday. “We were the underdogs from the start, but we ran a strong campaign and raised important issues that deserved to be heard.”
Galvin too, issued a statement Friday afternoon acknowledging Young as the winner.
“We ran a great race that we can all be proud of. It is now time for all of us to come together to address the huge issues we face today starting with coronavirus,” Galvin said.
Trump
Contrary to statewide results, Both Galvin and Gross received the majority of votes counted in Districts 33 and 34, according to unofficial results.
Similarly, while one ballot measure seems exceedingly likely to fail and another scraped out a narrow lead as of Friday evening, they both proved popular with voters in both districts. Yes votes for Ballot Measure 1, known as the “Fair Share Act” was an oil tax initiative trailed 187,843-136,438 as of Friday evening. Yes votes for Ballot Measure 2, a package of election reforms, gained a slight edge 162,373-161,232. It was the first time the ballot measure, which would institute ranked-choice voting, open primaries and changes to disclosure requirements, has led in the unofficial count.
The following results are based on unofficial results released by the state as of the evening of Nov. 12. Additional ballots are still being counted but so far the division is reporting 326,840 of Alaska’s 595,647 registered voters, or 54.87% of the electorate. Since 2016 Alaska added about 66,000 registered voters, up from 528,671 in that year. In 2018, Alaska counted 571,851 registered voters.
Percentages below are based on votes cast.
District 33
Presidential: 10,061 votes counted. Biden: 6,982 (69.3%), Trump: 2760 (27.4%), all others: 319 (3.17%).
Senate: 1o,023 votes counted. Gross: 6,922 (69.06%), Sullivan: 2,806 (27.9%), Howe: 295 (2.9%).
House: 10,005 votes counted. Galvin: 7,192 (71.88%), Young: 2,813 (28.11%).
Ballot Measure 1: 9,821 votes counted. Yes: 6,713 (68.35%), No: 3,108 (31.6%).
Ballot Measure 2: 9,848 votes counted. Yes: 6,950 (70.57%), No: 2,898 (29.42%).
District 34
Presidential: 9,926 votes counted. Biden: 5356 (53.9%), Trump: 4197 (42.28%), all others: 373 (3.7).
Senate: 9,936 votes counted. Gross: 5,225 (52.5%), Sullivan: 4,326 (43.5%), Howe: 385 (3.8%).
House: 9,888 votes counted. Galvin: 5,671 (57.3%), Young: 4,217 (42.6%).
Ballot Measure 1: 9,706 votes counted. Yes: 5,430 (55.9%), No: 4,276 (44.05%).
Ballot Measure 2: 9,763 votes counted. Yes: 5,755 (58.9%) No: 4,008 (41.05%).
Both Districts
Presidential: 19,987 votes counted. Biden 12,338 (61.7%), Trump (34.8%), all other: 692 (3.4%).
Senate: 19,959 votes counted. Gross: 12,147 (60.8%), Sullivan 7,132 (35.7%), Howe: 680 (3.4%).
House: 19,893 votes counted. Galvin: 12,863 (64.6%), Young: 7,030 (35.3%).
Ballot Measure 1: 19,527 votes counted. Yes: 12,143 (62.18%), No: 7,384 (37.8%).
Ballot Measure 2 19,611 votes counted. Yes: 12,705 (64.7%), No: 6,906 (35.2%).
