AK-Sen: A GROSS opponent for Dan Sullivan

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Gross has a few opponents in the Democratic primary, but most of them are no-names. However, in the last few days of filing, Edgar Blatchford has entered as a party member seeking the nomination in AK. He was the runner up in 2016's primary and is the former editor of Alaska Newspapers in addition to having held several roles in state and local gov (including Mayor of Seward from 1999 to 2003 and commissioner of the state Dept. of Commerce). I'd said the primary was safe Gross, but he might now get something approaching a real race.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The Cook ratings change has been posted elsewhere, but we have details of an internal poll:

https://twitter.com/downwithtyranny/status/1271477259333853185

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The Cook ratings change has been posted elsewhere, but we have details of an internal poll:

https://twitter.com/downwithtyranny/status/1271477259333853185

Instead of wasting money on Amy McGrath, Democrats should really invest into Alaska. It could be worth it.

Gross has more than enough money to fend for himself in a dirt cheap state like Alaska.

Alaska isn't "dirt cheap". It has a small population, but much of that is in places which are difficult for advertisers to reach, and that makes it extremely expensive per person (and still pretty pricey when not considering $ per person).

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Did the results leak early?  Republican odds dropped 24c on PredictIt.

StephieTheLefty (who basically commissioned it) described the results as “juicy”. PredictIt naturally assumed a tossup/shock Dem lead and panicked as per usual.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Looking at the first post-deadline candidate list update, it seems the Green Party candidate and the independent I previously mentioned qualified here as write-ins. There's only one other candidate besides Sullivan and Gross on the ballot (the Alaskan Independence nominee).

Sullivan has been spinning Gross as untrustworthy as he is against M4A and for a public option but wrote an op-ed arguing for single payer healthcare as late as 2017.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Alaska's sample ballots have just changed and no longer show the party registrations of the candidates. This also applies to Alyse Galvin, who will simply be listed as the Democratic nominee for AK-AL.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Alaska's sample ballots have just changed and no longer show the party registrations of the candidates. This also applies to Alyse Galvin, who will simply be listed as the Democratic nominee for AK-AL.

Should this not help Gross? Toxic D and all that? Also Al Gross is very easy to remember.

It's the other way around. He's still going to be listed as the Democratic nominee, but the ballot will no longer indicate that he is an independent.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

Anyone watched the debate? From what I read Sullivan spent most of his time attacking Maria Cantwell.

I watched about half an hour of it and both candidates seemed to assume the electorate was more high-information than conventional wisdom does. They started with the usual boogeymen of AOC/Schumer/corporate PACs and Sullivan later moved onto Sanders, but they spent a lot of time talking about committee assignments and giving up/taking influence in areas relevant to Alaska. Maria Cantwell was invoked a fair few times but so was Roger Wicker, who Sullivan gave up a chairmanship to in exchange for another brief.

The moderator was excellent and there was a section where they were actually quizzed on politically relevant questions, which seemed fun.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

A (probably small, but who knows?) scandal has been brewing here for Sullivan:

The race drew some national attention last month when secretly recorded videos leaked by an environmental group showed Tom Collier, the now-former CEO of a mining partnership looking to develop Alaska’s Pebble Mine, talking about his influence over Sullivan.

While Sullivan had put out a statement indicating he was opposed to the Pebble Mine project due to its environmental impact, the footage showed Collier boasting about the company’s sway over local officials and suggesting the senator was hoping to “ride out the election” and would not ultimately be an impediment to the project.

Gross has called on Sullivan to return donations from Collier. For his part, Sullivan has insisted he “unequivocally” believes the Pebble Mine project “cannot be permitted.”

“Any suggestion otherwise is either wishful thinking, a blatant mischaracterization, or a desperate attempt to secure funding for a mine that cannot move forward,” Sullivan said in a statement.

A story that old would not normally be electorally noteworthy, but perhaps there is something here. The Intercept is usually a bit trashy, but that they've picked the story up this late suggests it still has some momentum.

[TiltsAreUnderrated]

The official candidate page, updated 5 minutes prior to the filing deadline, now has one more write-in candidate: Karen Nanouk.