Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom announced on Aug. 23 that she is withdrawing from the race for U.S. Congress.
The news comes after numerous Republican districts called for her to step down in order to avoid splitting the GOP vote in the general election, which would have given liberal Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola a much easier path to victory.
Dahlstrom finished in third place in the Aug. 20 primary, trailing both Peltola and fellow Republican Nick Begich. Thanks to Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system, however, the top four candidates automatically advance to the general election in November. By dropping out, many conservatives believe Dahlstrom has given Begich a much better chance to defeat Peltola.
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“For over 20 years my commitment has been to do what is best for Alaska. That commitment has been my North Star since the start of this race,” Dahlstrom said in her announcement. “I entered this race because Alaskans deserve better representation than what we have received from Mary Peltola in Washington. We know that Mary Peltola certainly isn’t up to the challenge. She has shown this.”
While Dahlstrom stopped short of endorsing Begich, it is clear that she did not want to split the Republican vote.
“At this time, the best thing I can do to see that goal realized is to withdraw my name from the general election and end my campaign,” she added. “I want to thank all those who have supported my campaign throughout this process. I want to thank Governor Dunleavy for realizing and focusing on the endless potential of Alaska. I want to thank President Trump for recognizing the strength of not only Alaska, but her people. And I want to thank Speaker Johnson, Leader Scalise, Whip Emmer, Chairman Stefanik, and Congressman Hudson for their commitment to our country, and Alaska’s role in fulfilling the American Dream.”
While Dahlstrom was the only GOP candidate to pick up Trump’s endorsement, she was clearly not the favorite Republican candidate among local Alaskans. In addition to besting Dahlstrom in the primary, Begich has picked up numerous endorsements from Republican Party Districts all across the state.
Begich reacted to Dahlstrom’s announcement by encouraging Alaskans to unify in defeating Peltola.
“I want to congratulate Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom on running a strong campaign and thank her for her continued service to Alaska,” Begich posted to his Facebook site. “Today we move forward unified in the effort to replace Mary Peltola, who has proven by her alignment with the left that she is not the moderate she claimed to be. I look forward to continuing to travel Alaska to earn your support and take Alaska’s incredible story to our nation’s capital. North, to the Future.”
24 Comments
Keep praying, Christians. This is merely a small opening, but important. The local and national battlefield is still very, very ominous.
Definitely pray. In fact, praying is more powerful than voting so there is no need to vote.
How about praying AND voting? Trust and Obey. God does His part and we do ours.
Amen to that… The problem isn’t political it’s spiritual… Why would anyone vote for a Demonrat or a Redrum Rino to begin with ???
Now if Begich would drop out we could be free of the taint of criminal Donald Trump.
Yes, and we could bath in the splendor of communistic utopia. Like our brothers and sisters in NK, Venusala, and China. And think of all the benefits of starving to death. No more obesity. Yes, great plan David.
Your man Trump will be a dictator exactly like the tyrants you listed. The only foreign leaders he admires are mass murderers. I presume you don’t support Harris, but one of her significant characteristics is she isn’t Trump.
M and J, except that Trump has already BEEN president, and he wasn’t any kind of dictator at all. The media spent his entire 4 years screaming and lying blatantly about Russian Collusion while so many simps lapped it up, but it was all baloney. We know what he will do, and what he won’t do. The only people who have anything to fear from Trump are the devils in the 3 letter agencies who have lied, colluded, and defrauded the country to keep their stranglehold on power (we all pray someone is finally held to account)… and people who are here illegally. There will be mass deportations back to the countries they came from. All else is just horse manure designed to scare low information chuckleheads who look still to CNN for what they’re supposed to think.
Get back in your locker!
Thank You, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom. I voted for You and now will vote for Nick Begich who has a better chance by Your pragmatic decision. Often saw You and Your Husband at the Royal Fork.
Good to hear. She never answered some very important questions that people put out there and that was very concerning.
Dahlstrom’s withdrawal, ostensibly for the good of the GOP, is exactly what Biden did.
And what Biden did was ostensibly for the good of the Dems. Might even work if they can keep Kamala out of the public eye.
Give me a break Mark and Jeff (and your teacup dog Chee-Chee). Biden was, ostensibly, the President. Dahlstrom was not a Congressman. Whether by choice or not, the Alaskan Republican party doesn’t wield the type of authority seen in the Democrat coup that ousted Biden…that’s why Peltola got elected in the first place.
You aren’t making any sense, which, together with hypocrisy, is the Republican platform.
Many have pointed to the percentage of votes cast with Peltola at 50.3% of the vote. While Begich pulled in @27 and Dahlstrom received @20, folks are saying that when combined Begich is still far short of a win. The assumption is that those who voted for Dahlstrom will now cast their general election vote for Begich. But only @91,000 voted at around 30% of those registered. A great many people didn’t never bother to vote in the primary prior to RCV, leaving me to believe that they still don’t understand that RCV does not apply to the primary. The hope is that we can encourage the other 60% of voters to get out and vote both to show a turnout greater than the abysmal turnouts previously observed, and to reflect a trend of renewed interest and involvement in the things that affect Alaskans. Have a conversation with your neighbors, encourage those who say they have no interest in politics to vote and remind them that their vote can have an effect on their own bottom line and that of their grandchildren.
I thought either Republican candidate would do a good job but, with this idiotic ranked choice voting, having both candidates on the ballot seemed like a guarantee to re-elect Peltola. Ms. Dahlstrom’s decision was an admirable and unselfish act of statesmanship. I am impressed. I hope that she seeks office again.
As Joe Rogan says…If you stop looking in terms of red and blue — look at the actions. Whether it’s war, suppression of free speech, or mandatory pharmacological interventions. That used to all be associated with the authoritarian right, and now those things are being embraced by the left.
As Joe Rogan says…If you stop looking in terms of red and blue — look at the actions. Whether it’s war, suppression of free speech, or mandatory pharmacological interventions. That used to all be associated with the authoritarian right, and now those things are being embraced by the left.
Dalhstrom getting out was of course essential! To thank her is ridiculous! How about doing the job that you been given? Running away from your given responsibilities is not something I’m not inclined to be great full for! Buckle down and get your but to work! Serve the public as you have been charged or leave!
Jake Libbey. Actually Russia did indeed interfere with America’s election in 2016. Check out new movie called “From Russia with Lev”. Have you thought about the logistics of deporting millions of undocumented people? And what would happen to the price of fruit and vegetables if there was no one to process them? US has a terrible history of torturing brown skinned families (think Stephen Miller). As for Trump, he did not expect to win the 2016 election. He ran because he likes attention. He and his pre-indicted and later convicted staff were not then experienced enough to fulfill the destruction of our country and the constitution. But now, he and his cronies (that aren’t in prison yet) have expertise and experience and backing from the ghouls at various conservative foundations. And they have a plan. It’s called Project 2025. Read about it Jake. It’s awful and destructive. I’d be interested to see if you can defend it.
Delusional!
M&J, we get it, we ALLL get it. Trump personifies everything you despise, AND is not an LGBTQ2IA+ Warrior, you hate his guts, got it. You have a pretty impressive crystal ball though, and its interesting that you are citing movies as evidence, when you excoriated people on this site, under a different name, for the content of the movie ‘Died Suddenly.’ The US has a history of doing many bad things, as does every country on the planet. You think ‘we wonts gets our veggies’ if we don’t have slave labor to pick it, haha. Dave Maxwell is right, you are delusional, and the bridge you live under must be interesting. You spend your time crawling out from under that bridge and arguing legitimate nonsense like “sin isn’t real” (despite malevolence everywhere) while living and bragging about your depraved lifestyle that I would die before I would say is a good thing for society. Of all the places you could spend time, here you are, engaging in your endless taunts and marxist fear mongering. When Trump wins in two months, you’ll enjoy a much better standard of living for four years, and he’ll go away, and you’ll have a list of reasons a mile long about what an awful man he was, but you will never acknowledge he did NONE of the things you predict he will. As for Project 2025, what’s to defend? Its a product of the Heritage Foundation, not Trump, and I agree utterly with every plank, from abolishing the Department of Ed, to saying Abortion is not Healthcare, Outlawing porno, doing mass deportations (logistics be damned), and unleashing energy production again. I agree with all of it, just not the lies that leftist detractors claim **about** it. Soooo yeah, agree to disagree.
Well said.