By SUZANNE DOWNING
Aug. 27, 2027 – Five candidates who failed to finish first in Alaska’s primary have officially withdrawn from the general election ballot, while a sixth, Donna Anthony, has announced that she is stepping aside and endorsing the leading Republican in her race.
It is a lesson in how candidates can put Alaska, their party, and their principles ahead of personal ambition.
Democrat Matt Schultz suspended his campaign for Alaska’s US House seat several weeks before the Aug. 18 primary and endorsed undeclared candidate Bill Hill. Schultz understood that the two candidates were competing for many of the same voters, donors, and political organizations, and that dividing those resources would make it harder to defeat Republican Congressman Nick Begich.
Schultz remained on the primary ballot because he withdrew after the deadline for removing his name, but he has now formally withdrawn from the November ballot. His departure is intended to clear the anti-Begich lane for Hill.
Republicans Doyle Holmes and Mike Alexander have also withdrawn from the House District 30 contest, consolidating the Republican field in the Big Lake-area district.
Sharon Jackson has withdrawn from the House District 24 race after receiving about 19.1% of the primary vote. Jackson recognized that continuing would require time, money, and campaign resources that could be better directed toward other competitive races.
The Alaska Division of Elections has also reported that Democrat Felix Rivera withdrew following the primary for House District 13 (Anchorage).
In House District 26, Republican Donna Anthony announced that she is ending her campaign after finishing behind fellow Republican Steve St. Clair. She has yet to file the paperwork officially, but she has put out a statement.
St. Clair led the three-candidate primary with 1,682 votes, or 44.95%. Anthony received 1,076 votes, or 28.75%, while Democrat Jeanne Troshynski received 984 votes, or 26.30%.
Anthony did more than simply withdraw. She endorsed St. Clair and offered to help him win the seat.
“The voters of District 26 have spoken, and I respect their decision,” Anthony wrote. “Leadership also means knowing when to step forward and when to step aside.”
She thanked those who voted, donated, volunteered, knocked on doors, waved signs, shared her campaign message, prayed for the campaign, or offered encouragement.
“I also want to congratulate Steve St. Clair,” Anthony wrote. “As I step away from this race, I am proud to endorse Steve St. Clair for Alaska House District 26 and offer him my support as he moves forward.”
Anthony said withdrawing as a candidate does not mean she is withdrawing from public service.
“Public service has never been about a title for me. It has always been about people,” she wrote. “I will continue serving our community, standing up for the values I believe in, and working to make Alaska a better place for the generations who come after us.”
This is how candidates can neutralize one of the principal features of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.
The top-four primary was designed to send as many as four candidates into the general election, where candidates appealing to the same political constituency can divide first-choice votes, campaign money, volunteer hours, and attention.
That dynamic can also encourage candidates from the same party to attack each other through November, something that Dave Bronson has done repeatedly for months to try to take down gubernatorial favorite Bernadette Wilson in the governor’s race.
But candidates are not required to stay in.
When lower-finishing candidates accept the voters’ decision, withdraw, and endorse the strongest candidate on their side, they can turn a crowded ranked-choice contest back into a traditional one-on-one race.
Anthony’s decision leaves District 26 with a clear Republican-versus-Democrat contest: St. Clair against Troshynski. Instead of two Republicans spending the fall fighting each other, Republican voters can consolidate behind the candidate who received the most support in the primary. That’s the traditional primary process.
Schultz reached the same conclusion from the other side of the political aisle when he stepped aside for Hill.
Only one of the candidates in this group is a Democrat. The others are Republicans who concluded that staying in their races could split the vote and improve the opposing party’s chances.
These candidates did not finish first, but they demonstrated something increasingly rare in politics: The willingness to recognize the result, subordinate personal ambition, and put the larger cause ahead of ego.
That is how it is done.
