Genuine question: With all of this talk about how Alaska loves incumbents, are there instances when it benefited a Democratic incumbent??
Tony Knowles ran statewide five times, the only time he ever
crossed 50% was as the incumbent governor despite originally
winning with 41%. Obama also overperformed there in 2012 (relative to expectations as there was zero polling done) as the state swung his way more so than any other state in the country. There's also the Murkowski reelection which suggests it isn't just a Republican Party name brand type thing.
Simply put, there haven't been enough Dem incumbents to know for sure. This election will test the hypothesis.