AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Alaska’s primaries

WASHINGTON (AP) — Alaska voters on Tuesday will shrink the pool of contenders for its highly sought-after U.S. House seat from a dozen candidates to just four.

In Alaska, every candidate runs on the same primary ballot, regardless of partisan affiliation. The four candidates with the most votes advance to the general election. The composition of the four-candidate ballot, including each candidate’s party affiliation, shapes the dynamics of the general election, when voters can rank the candidates in order of preference.

Both major political parties are fighting for control of this seat, which had been in Republicans’ hands for decades until Rep. Don Young died in 2022.

Of the 12 candidates on the primary ballot, two are prominent Republicans and one is a well-known Democrat. The Democrat is Rep. Mary Peltola, who first won this seat in a special election in 2022. The Republicans are Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and Nick Begich, who shares a name with his late grandfather, a Democratic congressman who was on a plane that disappeared in 1972.

No other candidates have reported raising money for the race, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Also on the ballot are two other Republicans, one other Democrat, and six others.

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