Congressman Don Young is the longest serving Republican in the House.
Advertisement
Pollster Marc Hellenthal noted there were mixed results Tuesday, with other incumbents with primary challenges winning. Young handily won the race with about 70 percent of the early vote, and Lindbeck won his primary with about 70 percent of the vote.
“This is a chance for us to all get together”, said minority leader Rep. Chris Tuck.
“It’s also true that a lot of people feel like he has sort of left Alaska behind and that he’s working for special interests and for contributors, and so on, and that he’s not so closely in touch with Alaska as he used to be”, he said.
Young issued a statement from his home in Fort Yukon.
He says the choice is clear.
Keller was one of several legislators who lost their primaries.
On the Democratic side, University of Alaska Anchorage professor Edgar Blatchford and former lawmaker Ray Metcalfe are vying to take on Murkowski in November. “Metcalfe looked like he can pick up the slack that she did not take care of”. “I do not like the way he votes on issues”, Wolf said.
Metcalfe supported Bernie Sanders in Sanders’ unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Young is looking for his 23rd term in Congress.
Lindbeck, a former newspaper editor and the top officer of Alaska Public Media, told the AP that Young’s decades of service should be celebrated. Lindbeck says there’s a need for new leadership.
The Democrat had a strong initial fundraising quarter, bringing in more money than Young.
The other Democrats running are William “Bill” Hibler and Lynette “Moreno” Hinz. Owens believes Young’s effective days are long behind him. And the 83-year-old congressman believes he can still do the job and do it well.
Young faced three little-known Republican challengers in the primary: Gerald Heikes, Jesse “Messy” Tingley and Stephen Wright. Lisa Murkowski is expected to sail through Tuesday’s Republican primary, while Democrats will choose between two candidates to face her in November. “She’s going to do it anyway”. She touts her willingness to take a serious, measured approach to issues.
Murkowski is Alaska’s senior senator.
Voting at Kincaid Elementary School in southwest Anchorage, Nancy Shefelbine and Gabriele Peterson chose Young.
Shefelbine called him a “known quantity”.
“I know him well”. Wood says it’s time for a change in Alaska’s sole representative in the U.S. House.
Anchorage voter Phil Cannon chose to send Murkowski back to Washington.
Lindbeck, a 61-year-old Democrat, cast Young and his 43 years in the chamber as emblematic of a do-nothing Congress. Independents don’t have to go through the primary process.
Another Anchorage resident, Republican Ken Owens, voted for Libertarian Cean Stevens. Polls close at 8 p.m. Return to KTUU.com tonight for the results, updated throughout the evening.
He also voted against Young.
“He should have retired 20 years ago, gracefully”, Owens said.
Alaskans will go to the polls Tuesday to help settle the general election fields for U.S. Senate and House races, and in some cases, they likely will elect members to the state Legislature.
In the lead-up to Tuesday’s primary, Republican U.S. Sen.
Advertisement
Murkowski and Young, both Republicans, face contested primaries though none of their opponents have mounted high-profile challenges.
