Suzanne Downing: Republicans are being told to ‘rank the red.’ Democrats know better than to ‘rank the blue.’

By SUZANNE DOWNING

Aug. 23, 2026 – Alaska’s gubernatorial primary delivered a warning that Republicans would be foolish to ignore.

The two leading Democrats for governor, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Tom Begich, together captured 41.7% of the vote. Meanwhile, Republicans and no-party candidates divided the remainder among a crowded field.

Now, almost on cue, some influential Republicans are reviving the familiar slogan: “Rank the Red.”

Cue the eye roll.

We have heard this before. It did not work in 2022 when the Alaska Republican Party pushed it hard on right-leaning voters. It was certainly not the strategy that defeated Mary Peltola in 2024. And there is little reason to believe Republican voters, most of whom fundamentally oppose ranked-choice voting, will suddenly embrace it in November.

Republicans do not like to rank. They want regular elections. They don’t want to “settle for seconds.” They want a primary in which each party membership chooses its nominee, followed by a general election in which voters select one candidate. That is one reason many will vote “yes” on Ballot Measure 2 this November to repeal Alaska’s open-primary, ranked-choice voting system.

Yet those same voters are now being told by prominent Republicans that, while voting to abolish ranked-choice voting, they must also become highly disciplined ranked-choice voters. This is something repugnant to them and is a serious case of political cognitive dissonance.

Look at what the Democrats are doing: Have you heard leading Democrats pleading with voters to “rank the blue” between JKT  and Tom Begich?

Has the Bartlett Club (Democrat club in Anchorage) launched a campaign telling Democrats to rank every Democrat?

Has the Alaska Democratic Party begun warning its members that they must carefully fill in two ovals and rank both candidates?

No. Not even close. Democrats are not publicly training their voters to make ranked-choice voting work. They are engaged in discussions about consolidating their candidates into a single gubernatorial ticket, with either Kreiss-Tomkins or Begich at the top and the other possibly joining as the lieutenant governor candidate.

That is because Democrats understand the system. They know their best chance of electing a governor is not to have two Democrats competing against each other through multiple rounds of tabulation. Their ideal scenario is one Democrat facing three Republicans.

Democrats also understand something about Republican voters: Many Republicans will not rank a second Republican whom they strongly opposed in the primary. It does not matter how much you lecture them, most Republican will vote for their preferred candidate and stop. Others may rank one or two names but refuse to support a Republican they consider unacceptable.

We saw it happen in 2022. Republicans were told to “rank the red” then, too. But many voters did not. Some Sarah Palin voters would not rank Nick Begich. Some Nick Begich voters would not rank Palin. Ballots became exhausted, votes stopped transferring, and Mary Peltola benefited from the Republican division.

The slogan was catchy: Rank the red was easy to remember. The strategy failed when Republicans faced their ballots.

Republicans learned a different lesson in 2024. After the primary, Nancy Dahlstrom withdrew from the race for Congress and cleared the way for Nick Begich. Republicans consolidated behind one serious candidate, and Begich defeated Peltola.

That was not “rank the red.” That was consolidation.

It worked because voters were given a clear choice. Republicans did not have to solve a political logic puzzle inside the voting booth. They did not have to rank candidates who had spent the preceding year attacking one another. They simply had to vote for the Republican nominee.

Democrats watched and learned. Now they appear to be preparing to use the same strategy in the governor’s race, perhaps waiting until the latest practical moment to determine which Democrat should continue. The deadline for a general-election candidate to withdraw is Aug. 31, the same target date on which the Division of Elections expects to certify the primary results. The Alaska Division of Elections confirms that deadline here.

The clock is running.

The current count puts Kreiss-Tomkins first with 21.6% and Begich second with just over 20%. Bernadette Wilson and Dave Bronson are positioned to claim the other two places in the final four. These results are unofficial until outstanding ballots are counted.

If one of the Democrats withdraws and the next candidate moves onto the ballot, the result could be exactly what Democratic strategists want: one unified Democrat and three candidates drawing from the Republican or center-right electorate.

That is the path to a Democrat governor, as they consolidate their 41.7% while Republicans remain divided.

While Democrats are playing four-dimensional chess, too many Republican campaign strategists are still playing checkers. They are promoting a flawed slogan that assumes Republican voters will behave in November in a way they have repeatedly demonstrated they will not behave.

“Rank the red” is not a strategy. It is a request for Republican voters to overcome years of bitter primary divisions, ignore their objections to certain candidates and give into a voting system they are simultaneously trying to repeal.

Maybe some will do it. Many will not.

Democrats know that.

The Republicans and no-party candidates who did not prevail last Tuesday need to make their intentions clear. Those who have no realistic path to victory should withdraw, endorse the strongest remaining candidate and give their supporters unmistakable direction.

And the Republicans who did advance need to ask themselves whether staying in the race serves Alaska—or simply hands the Governor’s Mansion to the Democrats.

There is very little time for vanity, grudges or wishful thinking. The Aug. 31 deadline is approaching.

Republicans can keep repeating “rank the red” and hope that this time voters behave differently. Or they can remember what actually worked in 2024.

Consolidate, give voters a clear choice, and stop pretending that three Republicans against one Democrat is anything other than the Democrats’ ideal ballot.

Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story, and is a longtime Alaskan.

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