Unbelievably, it’s been 12 days since the general election and we still don’t know the outcome of a key Alaska House race and the ranked choice voting repeal ballot initiative. Around 9,000 votes remain to be counted by the Division of Elections. The retabulation for the races where no candidate has more than 50% of the vote is scheduled for Wednesday (11/20/2024). The two cabinet positions that many speculated Donald Trump might appoint Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) to have been filled by other people. And a key member of Dunleavy’s staff is leaving her position. 

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The Counting Continues 

Around 9,000 ballots still remain to be counted. Ballot Measure 2, the ranked choice voting repeal, is passing now by just 895 votes after more votes were counted on Saturday (11/16/2024). Most of the outstanding votes are absentees from Anchorage, where the no vote has been winning by large margins. Projections show that Ballot Measure 2 will fail by a very narrow margin after the remainder of the outstanding votes are counted. A recount is likely. 

The race between Representative Cliff Groh (D – Anchorage) and Republican David Nelson is very close. Groh is up by just ten votes 1,713 to 1,703. It sounds like there are around 200 votes left to count, but it’s hard to know based on the lack of information from the Division of Elections.

This race is key to determining how the House will organize. If Groh wins, the newly formed House majority coalition would have 22 members. If he loses, they would just have 21 – the bare minimum for a majority. And with the situation involving Democrat Nellie Jimmie, things could get very interesting if Nelson wins.   

The coalition was scheduled to meet yesterday in Anchorage, but that was pushed back to this coming Friday. They probably want to see how the Groh/Nelson race shakes out, as well as the races that will be determined using ranked choice voting. 

One of those is a race between Republicans to replace Representative Jesse Sumner (R – Wasilla), who dropped out after the primary. Steve Menard may end up defeating Elexie Moore after Jessica Wright’s second choice votes are redistributed. While that won’t affect the coalition’s numbers, having Steve Menard in the House will be maximum loose! Speaker Cathy Tilton (R – Wasilla) and the establishment Republicans supported Moore because, unlike Menard, they can control her. If Menard prevails, it is another issue the Republicans will have to deal with.  

Dunleavy Drama 

There was a lot of speculation that Donald Trump tap Governor Dunleavy to serve as either secretary of the Interior or secretary of Energy. Both positions have been filled by other people. Trump selected Governor Doug Burgum (R – North Dakota) for Interior and fracking executive Chris Wright for Energy. There’s still Education! 

On Tuesday evening, Dunleavy posted that he would be doing a Facebook Live with Lieutenant Governor Nancy Dahlstrom (R – Alaska) to make some kind of announcement. I got a ton of texts asking about what it was. No one seemed to have any idea if he was announcing a job with Trump, which would make Dahlstrom governor, or if it was about the screwed up situation with the Division of Elections, that Dahlstrom oversees. No one ever found out because an hour and a half later, Dunleavy said just kidding!

It was an incredibly amateur move, and he’s been silent since. My guess is it was about the issues counting ballots and he changed his mind when the majority of the comments were about a potential job with Trump. Or maybe he was just trying to create some kind of buzz. Regardless of what it was about, it was really dumb not to do it. He not even show up at the Resource Development Council annual conference this week in Anchorage. Instead, his Chief of Staff Tyson Gallagher delivered remarks on his behalf on Thursday morning. 

Other Happenings 

Laura Stidolph is leaving her role as Governor Dunleavy’s legislative director. She sent out the below email this week. Laura will be missed by many! Dunleavy is going to need to get someone very experienced in that role as he will very likely be contending with two coalition majorities in the final two years of his time as governor.   

Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson (D – Anchorage) held a meeting this week at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office about the energy situation in Cook Inlet. The head of Enstar and Chugach Electric were there to speak and answer questions. Long story short, they are both preparing for LNG imports, which is absolutely insane and shows the absolute failure of state leaders over the years. After Donald Trump’s recent video about Alaska and the gasline, we should be all hands on deck trying to seize this incredible moment to get a gasline built. 

The Republicans in the House and Senate have still not made any announcements about their minorities. The House Republicans, like the coalition, are awaiting the results of the Groh/Nelson race. They are clinging to the hope that if Nelson wins they can try and organize some kind of majority. And both groups are also waiting to see what happens with Ballot Measure 2. If it fails to pass, some Republicans might be more willing to join a coalition. If it passes, they would be less likely as they would then have to run for re-election in a Republican primary. We should know on Wednesday! 

No more man bun for Tyson Gallagher! 

Governor Dunleavy’s budget is due on December 15 and ANS Crude is at $70 a barrel…

I still can’t believe this headline from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 

The Anchorage Assembly has a new email address. 

The Stewart Trail is back in the news! Check out this thread about how Brandy Pennington is trying to prevent people from using the very public Stewart Trail. An article about the whole situation from the Landmine’s Paxson Woelber is forthcoming.

This Week’s Loose Unit 

This week’s designee is short and sweet. This week’s Loose Unit is the Alaska Division of Elections. It’s been 12 days since the election and they are still counting votes. There has been almost no communication from them on what ballots they have counted and where they came from when they update results. Carol Beecher, the director, or Nancy Dahlstrom have not done a single press conference. 

Check out this text I got Saturday morning. That about sums it up. 

The whole situation is not only loose, it’s entirely unacceptable. There is no excuse for this. I truly hope that people are held accountable and the Legislature digs into and solves this so we never have this problem again.   

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.