Weeks after suspending his campaign, the leading Democrat in Alaska’s U.S. House race officially withdrew ahead of the Aug. 31 deadline. That withdrawal triggered a sequence of events that put the eighth-place finisher, Libertarian candidate Jim McDermott, on the ballot in November.
Democrat Matt Schultz received 8.1% of the vote in the August primary, good enough for third, behind incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III and independent challenger Bill Hill.
Begich had 44.6% of the vote, and Hill had 32.5%, according to official results.
Hill, a fisherman and former superintendent from Bristol Bay, is a first-time candidate for federal office.
Under Alaska’s unique elections system, all candidates for an office run against each other in the primary election. The top four candidates, regardless of political party, advance to the general election in November. There, voters rank the candidates in order of preference.
If a candidate has more than 50% of the first-preference votes, they win. If no candidate reaches that mark, the candidate with the fewest top rankings is eliminated, and any votes for them are redistributed to their voters’ second choices.
The process continues until only two candidates are left, and the person with the most votes wins.
If a top-four finisher withdraws, their spot is taken by the fifth-place finisher. If two top-four candidates withdraw, the sixth-place finisher also advances.
Schultz suspended his campaign on July 17 in order to consolidate opposition fundraising and voter support for Hill. His withdrawal was followed by that of other trailing candidates.
With Schultz’s withdrawal, fourth-place finisher Eric Hafner — a registered Democrat in federal prison who received 3.8% of the vote — moves to the third spot on November’s election ballot. Two years ago, a state judge ruled that Hafner could remain a candidate even if he would be unable to serve his term due to his federal imprisonment.
Fifth-place finisher John Williams, a Democrat from Fairbanks who received 2.7% of the vote, withdrew from the race. The sixth-place finisher, Republican candidate Clay Strickland, also withdrew from the race, the Division of Elections said.
That left seventh-place finisher Yaquelin Reynoso, who received 1.8% of the vote in August’s primary. Then on the deadline day, Reynoso withdrew from the race, the Division of Elections said.
That left the eighth-place primary finisher, Libertarian candidate Jim McDermott, of Fairbanks, to advance to the November election as the fourth of four candidates despite earning just 1.2% of the primary vote among 15 candidates overall.
The Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization, online at Alaskabeacon.com.
