Elections 2026: One month until Alaska Decides

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A historic election is just a month away.

Before Alaskans are more than fifty contentious contests. The contests will decide the direction of the state’s future and could be the deciding factor in which party controls the U.S. Senate.

A one-term Democratic congresswoman moves with wind behind her back against a two-term incumbent.

One Democrat leads in the race for governor, making it clear his candidacy is a referendum against the state’s Republican governor. Three Republicans run against him, with GOP concerns on how their electorate will turn out.

A one-term congressman seeks to hold his seat, holding one of the most impressive advantages in primary results, which the frontrunning Independent challenger hopes to recover from.

And Alaskans will vote on how they want to vote — get rid of or keep ranked choice voting and the nonpartisan primary.

Sunday is the last day to register to vote. You can register to vote here: ALASKA - Online Voter Registration.

With just a month to make up your mind, here are some of the most significant events that have happened since the race began.

Editor’s note: Each item below summarizes previous Alaska’s News Source reporting — click through for full stories and sourcing

U.S. Senate race

Peltola earns 8-point advantage above Sullivan

Former Congresswoman Mary Peltola, D, got the results she was looking in the primary election. The challenger to Sen. Dan Sullivan, R, leads the face-off race following Alaska’s primary election as eyes shift to November’s election.

The Peltola campaign attributed their lead to Alaskans knowing “Mary will stand up to anyone to fix the rigged system in DC, lower costs, and put Alaska first.”

Trailing behind the former congresswoman, Sullivan’s team said the margins were still winnable for the incumbent.

“Last night, Senator Dan Sullivan held Mary Peltola under the 51% she posted in her 2024 congressional primary, an election she went on to lose in November,” spokesperson Nate Adams said in a statement. “This is a race between Senator Dan Sullivan, who delivers real results for Alaska, and Mary Peltola who served two terms in Congress, never got a single bill signed into law, then cashed out to become a D.C. lobbyist.

“That’s why Alaskans fired Mary Peltola in 2024, and why she will lose again this November.”

Peltola campaign rocked by NYT report

At the end of a Sept. 25 town hall, Alaska Democratic Senate frontrunner Mary Peltola avoided reporters’ questions about allegations from former staff members detailed in a New York Times report published that day.

The report, which cites nine unnamed former staffers, alleges that Peltola used a homophobic slur, sometimes about her own staff, pushed a staffer and shoved a water bottle in a staff member’s face, among other claims. Her campaign denies the slur allegation and said the staffer was bumped, not pushed. Members of her team described the water bottle incident as lighthearted.

Before the event, Peltola’s team declined a request for a brief interview. Alaska’s News Source learned of the report as the press conference began. When a KTUU reporter approached Peltola afterward, she was surrounded by several staff members and did not answer reporters’ questions.

Peltola pushes back against Kamala Harris support

Former Vice President and 2024 Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris sent an email to Peltola supporters Sept. 13, urging support for Democratic challenger Mary Peltola in the toss-up Alaska U.S. Senate race.

The Peltola campaign says it doesn’t need the help.

“Mary isn’t seeking endorsements from anyone from the Lower 48 – her focus is and always will be Alaska,” a Peltola spokesperson said in a statement. “That’s why she’s proud to have the endorsement of AFGE, the Alaska AFL-CIO, Alaska IBEW Local 1547, and more than 10,000 Alaskans who have signed up to volunteer with the campaign.”

Who is Dan J. Sullivan and why is his party not on the ballot?

Dan J. Sullivan — a man from Petersburg, Alaska with the same name as Alaska’s incumbent senator — entered the U.S. Senate race at the end of May and was removed from the ballot by the elections division on June 15.

The elections division said he was trying to confuse voters, something he has denied. That case went to a Superior Court and the State Supreme Court. In both cases, the courts sided with the Petersburg Sullivan, ultimately reinstating the candidate on the ballot — one day before the state’s deadline to print ballots.

When he was reinstated, he no longer had a party on the ballot — the only candidate in the race without one.

On July 23, a KTUU reporter asked Elections Director Carol Beecher why Petersburg’s Dan J. Sullivan’s party affiliation was no longer on the ballot.

In the interaction, division spokesperson Steve Kirch placed his hands over the lens of an Alaska’s News Source photojournalist’s camera. The photojournalist asked Kirch to stop. He responded, “well, then get the camera out of the way.”

It’s not the first time the division has blocked Alaska’s News Source from asking questions on how they made the decision.

Alaska’s News Source has tried multiple avenues to get answers from the division — which have either been refused or have not received timely responses in each instance.

Released records reported by Alaska’s News Source on Aug. 17 show Alaska’s governor convened the state’s highest election officials hours after a court forced the state to put Dan J. Sullivan back on the ballot. Given multiple attempts over a series of months, his office has not said what happened in that meeting.

U.S. House race

Matt Schultz drops House ticket, posing faceoff for Independent

In an interview with Alaska’s News Source, Schultz said he didn’t think Hill was the right person for the job — he thinks he is — but he hasn’t mustered enough dollars to remain viable. That, and he feels Begich is a worse option than Hill.

“The way that this campaign is run is that there is simply too much outside money coming in to allow me to be a viable candidate at this time,” he said. “That being the case, after the primary, he will be the only one with the money to take on Nick Begich and Nick Begich is an absolutely disastrous choice, so I’m encouraging my supporters to vote for Bill Hill in November.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson stumps for Begich behind closed-doors

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, was in Palmer Sept. 7 to rally behind Nick Begich, R-Alaska, but the event had its doors, or more accurately its hangar bay, closed to the public and the press.

Outside the hangar hosting Congress’s top Republican, protesters called for change and slung insults at those walking into the event.

Alaska’s News Source requested to be at the event, which was denied because the event was “closed press,” campaign spokesperson Paul Smith said. Smith did not respond when asked why media was barred from the event.

Also among the chants: “Hill yeah!”

“This is news to me,” Bill Hill told Alaska’s News Source over a video call while he was in Metlakatla. “I hadn’t heard that. I think that it just shows that Alaskans are fed up with the way that politics are being done and the way that Nick Begich is voting against our interests.”

Governor’s race

Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins leads against three Republicans

After Democrat Tom Begich dropped out of the race, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins became the sole progressive running to be Alaska’s next governor. To meet him, in order of highest votes received: Bernadette Wilson, R, Dave Bronson, R, Treg Taylor, R.

“Today, Alaskans took the first huge step in choosing a new direction for our state,” Kreiss-Tomkins said in a statement Tuesday night. “We’re excited and humbled by the thousands of Alaskans who stood with our campaign to support our schools, protect our fisheries, lower everyday costs for energy, healthcare, and housing, and make it possible for Alaskans to build their futures here.”

Bernadette Wilson told Alaska’s News Source after ballots closed — but before there were any results — that making it to the top four says the state is looking for a different kind of change.

“I think it sends a very strong message that we are ready for a political outsider,” she said. “We’re ready for someone to come in and clean it up. We’re done with backroom deals. We’re done with inside lobbyists and everything else. We are ready to see all of this state cleaned up.”

Tom Begich bows out of race for governor

The former state Senate minority leader announced Aug. 28 that he and running mate Julia Hnilicka are suspending their campaign and endorsing fellow Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, more than a year after Begich entered the race.

“I do not accept that Alaska’s decline is normal,” Begich said in a statement announcing the decision. “Julia and I built a campaign I am incredibly proud of, and we helped change the conversation about what Alaskans should expect from our state.”

Before making the decision, Begich said he spoke directly with Kreiss-Tomkins about the priorities at the center of his own campaign.

“We share a commitment to those priorities, and those conversations gave me confidence that they will remain at the forefront of this race,” Begich said.

“Rather than competing over visions that share so much in common, we are choosing to put our strength behind a shared vision for Alaska,” Begich said. “What matters most is making sure Alaska gets a governor who will move us forward. We believe the best way to do that now is to bring together the people, energy and momentum we have created and put our strength behind one candidate.”

Treg Taylor removed, then brought back on the ballot

Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom certified Treg Taylor’s nomination for governor, reversing a decision that had knocked the former attorney general off the November ballot just days earlier.

Dahlstrom received a complaint from the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC) saying he violated campaign finance disclosure laws by not stating the full name of his tenants in his disclosure forms.

He said it was a matter of privacy and that the law was not clear on the matter.

“We offer[ed] to provide the full names of our tenants to APOC under, under confidence,” he said. “They did not accept that offer and I think the law isn’t clear, actually.”

Despite his personal disagreements, APOC argued the law was clear: full names do need to be included in financial disclosures. The lieutenant governor said as much in her reasoning for his removal.

Only a week after he was taken off the ballot, and despite previous assurances from the state on the clarity of the statutes, Dahlstrom reversed her decision after an informal, and potentially flawed, Department of Law review said 91 other candidates would have their candidacies scrutinized for similar violations.

Many of those 91 candidates scrutinized that determination.

Trump hasn’t endorsed governor candidate

Alaska is on an island not just because of its distance from the Lower 48, but also because it’s one of the few states without an endorsement from President Donald Trump in the race for governor.

The lack of a presidential endorsement in the state is notable, not only because it’s one of the few states he hasn’t endorsed a pick for governor, but also because national pollsters are saying Republicans are losing their footing in holding the seat. The Cook Political Report turned the seat from Lean Republican to Toss-Up, like the state’s U.S. Senate race as well, on Sept. 17.

There are 36 governor races across the country, and for the majority of those races, the president has backed one or more candidates. In total, he’s thrown his support behind candidates in 22 states.

Alaska is part of the 14 which haven’t seen an endorsement and there’s somewhat of a trend in those races: 11 of those races have sitting Democratic governors and only 3 have sitting Republican governors.

Despite the lack of an endorsement, Alaska gubernatorial candidates have told Alaska’s News Source they’ve been in touch with the administration.

Republicans reluctantly rely on ranked choice voting

Two of the lowest-earning Republican candidates for governor are urging their voters to rank the ballot in an ad. The GOP frontrunner, who once said ranking would help Democrats, agrees.

Bernadette Wilson is notably absent from the ad, but the campaign says that wasn’t on purpose.

A Wilson campaign spokesperson said the invite was sent to a spam folder and it’s “hard to say” whether she would have joined the ad. That said, her statement to Alaska’s News Source shows a departure from her previously held belief that ranking would only hurt GOP chances.

“The best chance Republicans have to win this race is for both to suspend their campaigns and unite behind us,” a Friday statement from Wilson reads.

Elections & ballot initiatives

Historic primary early vote turnout

Early voting for Alaska’s primary midterm elections has reached historic highs, surpassing the previous record by thousands of ballots.

The new high: 21,956 ballots. It surpassed 2022’s record of 18,267.

The record turnout has also meant long lines for voters at the midtown mall polling place, who told Alaska’s News Source the line was upwards of an hour.

Alaskans install campaign contribution limits

Alaskans overwhelmingly voted to install campaign contribution limits after the state had no limit on how much a voter or group can donate to a state or local campaign, despite state law saying there is. The reason those laws aren’t enforced: the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided in 2021 that the limit was unconstitutionally low.

The ballot measure reinstalls those limits and higher than what the previous law allowed.

Alaskans will decide whether to keep ranked choice voting, nonpartisan primary and much more

The choice over an initiative understood to be the potential ranked-choice voting killer isn’t as simple as it seems.

Voters are given two options. Yes or no.

A yes vote removes ranked choice voting, meaning voters will select one choice in the general election and the top vote getter wins. A no vote keeps the system in place.

But the proposition does much more than just get rid of RCV. It also gets rid of nonpartisan primaries, opens the opportunity for parties to exclude independents off the ballot, removes campaign financial disclosure provisions and gets rid of limits on gubernatorial campaigns.

Elections division removes 3,000 voters from active voter roll

Alaska’s Division of Elections may have violated both state and federal law when it deactivated more than 3,000 voter registrations over citizenship questions, the legislature’s attorney said. The legal fallout could mean hundreds of lawsuits against the state.

More than a fifth of the deactivated voters, 685, told the division they were citizens, Elections Director Carol Beecher told lawmakers in a letter.

“Approximately 685 voters have contacted the Division and stated they are citizens,” Beecher said in an August letter obtained by Alaska’s News Source.

Before the legislature’s attorney penned his letter, dated Aug. 7, 23 members of the bipartisan majority accused her of violating the law on Aug. 4.

“We have heard from numerous citizens whose voting rights have been cancelled illegally and without just cause,” the letter from lawmakers reads. “Your actions threaten to deprive Alaskans of their most fundamental right in a democracy, and correction of your department’s mistakes should be addressed immediately.”

The director doubled down in a letter sent to lawmakers Aug. 6.

“The Division does not intend to return all recipients to active status automatically,” she wrote. “The current ‘inactive non-citizen’ status accurately identifies records requiring follow-up while preserving every eligible citizen’s ability to vote.”

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