Half of the state Senate is up for election this year, and all of the state House.
Voters fill out ballots at Bethel’s Precinct 1 in the Yupiit Piciryarait Cultural Center on Nov. 5, 2024. At stake: control of the House and Senate, responsible for setting state policy on everything from education to energy to the Permanent Fund and more., many coalition-minded Senate candidates are leading, and control of the state House is up in the air. But it’s still early.
But even before results emerged, that appeared to be an uphill battle given the seats in play this year. On the Kenai Peninsula, incumbent Republican Sen. Jesse Bjorkman leads his conservative challenger, Rep. Ben Carpenter. Bjorkman far outraised Carpenter in the race. During the last session, Bjorkman supported bills that would boost public school funding and return state employees to a pension system. Carpenter opposed both bills.
In Fairbanks, Democratic Sen. Scott Kawasaki, a coalition member, is out to an early lead over Republican challenger Leslie Hajdukovich. And in the race for an open seat in the vast Interior Senate District R, Republican Rep. Mike Cronk leads independent Savannah Fletcher by a wide margin. Cronk has more than half the vote; Fletcher trails by nearly 20 points.Though early results indicate the Senate is unlikely to flip from bipartisan control, control of the state House is uncertain.
Many of the seats key to the Republican-led majority are in Anchorage, and they are expected to be tight contests, but some early results are promising for Republicans.
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