This story has been updated with results as of Thursday afternoon.
Juneau and surrounding communities, as expected, voted more liberally than Alaska as a whole in the state’s primary election, and while there was near-record-low voter turnout statewide one Southeast community in particular continued a tradition of strong civic participation.
Klukwan had a preliminary turnout of 55.56%, compared to the average of about 21.3% for the two legislative districts that include Juneau and the statewide average of 16.01%, according to results updated Thursday afternoon by the Alaska Division of Elections.
Those totals will increase as absentee ballots are added until 10 days after the Aug. 20 election, with about 25% of the primary ballots in 2022 tallied after the initial election night count.
The turnout for Klukwan is not surprising given its general level of community involvement, said state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a Juneau Democrat who represents that town, as well as others including Gustavus (which had the second-highest turnout at 30.81%) and Skagway (which had one of the lowest turnouts at 13.77%).
“It’s a very traditional village and it has always had, per capita, the most involved constituents in our Senate district,” he said. “When I go to town halls there, when I’m invited by the tribe, the turnout there proportionately to the number of residents dwarfs anybody else by a landslide. So no surprise that Klukwan voter participation was very, very high.”
The only contested race in Juneau’s two House districts was for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat. Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola dominated both districts, getting 79.82% of the vote in District 4 that includes downtown and Douglas, and 67.46% in District 3 that includes the Mendenhall Valley and several small communities near Juneau.
Republican challengers Nick Begich III got 16.23% in District 3 and 11.19% in District 4, and Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom 13.93% in District 3 and 7.37% in District 4.
Statewide results as of Thursday afternoon show Peltola with 50.36% of the vote, Begich III 26.5% and Dahlstrom 19.96%. Among nine other candidates, Republican Matthew Salisbury received 0.62% to finish fourth and will advance to the November general election if he retains his place under Alaska’s top-four open primary system.
Juneau was largely ignored by the three major congressional candidates during this summer’s campaign season, although Peltola did visit during the state Democratic convention in May, at Celebration in June, and a fundraiser and meet-and-greet in early August. Kiehl said he doesn’t take that as a sign Juneau is largely irrelevant to the candidates, but rather a strategic decision based on the knowledge the real race lies ahead in November.
“I think what you saw among the top three was they spent relatively little of their total campaign resources and war chests on primary turnout,” he said. “Maybe Mary spent more than the others, and that may be reflected in a proportion of the votes statewide, but by and large they’re keeping their powder dry for the general. I expect we should look forward to seeing them all come to town and spend money on ads like crazy from here until the (beginning) of November.”
All three members of Juneau’s state legislative delegation are unopposed, so the only question was how many people casting ballots opted not to vote for the Democratic incumbents. Of 3,621 people in District 3 casting ballots, 2,868 voted for Kiehl and 2,773 for Rep. Andi Story. Of the 3,255 votes in District 4, Kiehl got 2,792 and Rep. Sara Hannan 2,698.
“I do pay attention to that because it matters,” Kiehl said. “And a few of those folks will be people who only bother with the contested races, but some of those other folks are sending a message. And so it means that there’s a group of folks who aren’t satisfied with how I’m doing the work, and I need to keep my eyes and ears open, and reach out actively to talk with people who have a different philosophy or different approach, and want me to do a better job representing everyone.”
Democrats and moderate Republicans generally fared well against conservative Republicans statewide, which Story said seems to be a show of support for more education funding, which was one of the biggest issues of the past legislative session. Per-pupil funding has been largely flat since 2017 and a one-time increase of about 11% that passed this year was heavily pushed by Democrats and GOP moderates seeking a permanent increase.
“In some of the contested districts I see candidates who are really supporting education doing well,” she said, adding she plans to spend some of the fall campaign season working to help elect candidates supporting an education increase as well as improvements to the state’s public employee retirement system.
Initial results for District 3 and 4 primary races:
District 3
• Overall turnout: 21.37% (3,621 ballots cast of 16,947 registered voters).
• Highest turnout precincts: Klukwan 55.56%, Gustavus 30.81%, Lynn Canal 25.8%, Auke Bay 16.4%.
• Lowest turnout precincts: Thunder Mountain 11.03%, Skagway 13.77%.
• U.S. House overall: Mary Peltola 67.46%, Nick Begich III 16.23%, Nancy Dahlstrom 13.93%.
• Peltola’s highest/lowest precincts: 77.5% in Klukwan/46.03% in Haines No. 2.
• Begich’s highest/lowest precincts: 26.98% in Haines No. 2/7.5% in Klukwan.
• Dahlstrom’s highest/lowest precincts: 23.81% in Haines No. 2/0% in Klukwan.
District 4
• Overall turnout: 21.3% (3,255 ballots cast of 15,281 registered voters).
• Highest turnout precincts: North Douglas 19.66%, Douglas 19.11%, Juneau No. 3 18.69%.
• Lowest turnout precincts: Glacier Valley Area 6.06%, Lemon Creek 7.82%.
• U.S. House overall: Mary Peltola 79.82%, Nick Begich III 11.19%, Nancy Dahlstrom 7.37%.
• Peltola’s highest/lowest precincts: 89.58% in Juneau No. 2/52.15% in Juneau Airport Area.
• Begich’s highest/lowest precincts: 20.9% in Glacier Valley Area/7.18% in Juneau No. 2.
• Dahlstrom’s highest/lowest precincts: 23.98% in Juneau Airport Area/1.85% in Juneau No. 2.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
