Alaska Congressional ballot whittled down to one Republican, two Democrats, and an AIP candidate

Before the deadline on Monday, Republican candidate Matthews Salisbury dropped from the race for Congress. That leaves Nick Begich as the only Republican on the ticket, facing three others this November: Incumbent Democrat Mary Peltola, Alaska Independence Party candidate John Wayne Howe, and Democrat Eric Hafner.

Salisbury had gotten 652 votes in the primary. By taking his name off the general election ballot, he ended up moving a second Democrat into the final four for Nov. 5, when voters are asked to rank the candidates in the order of their preference.

Rather than first through fourth-place finishers being on the ballot, as intended by the new open primary, ranked-choice general, it’s now the first, second, fifth, and sixth place candidates.

In this race, the Republicans intentionally cleared the track for Begich, who was the leading candidate coming out of the Alaska primary in August.

There were a few other last-minute drops in state Senate and House races:

Senate Seat D: Andy Cizek withdrew before the deadline. Sen. Jesse Bjorkman is being challenged by Republican Rep. Ben Carpenter and Democrat Tina Wegener.

Senate Seat R: James Squyres withdrew before the deadline. Republican Rep. Mike Cronk, false-flag undeclared Democrat Savannah Fletcher, and Alaskan Independence Party candidate Robert Williams are the only ones left on the ballot.

House District 6: Nonpartisan Alana Greear withdrew, leaving nonpartisan Brent Johnson and Republican Dawson Slaughter to challenge Rep. Sarah Vance, the Republican incumbent.