Murkowski concedes election to Miller

• Ballots counted Tuesday still don’t tell end of the story with thousands left
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune

HOMER TRIBUNE/file photo - Joe Miller, a 43-year-old Fairbanks judge, made a surprise victory over incumbent Murkowski in the primary, but with thousands of ballots left to count, it’s still a contest.

Though thousands of ballots remained uncounted by Tuesday evening, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski tossed in her hat to candidate Joe Miller.
Four announcements from the Alaska Division of Elections, counting outstanding ballots throughout the day, had updated the span separating votes for Murkowski and Miller, with the number steadily decreasing for Miller’s lead. But by day’s end, Miller’s count equaled his election day totals of over 1,600 votes. Murkowski said in the end, she anticipated the count wouldn’t add up to her re-election.
“We know that we have outstanding votes to count in the primary but based on where we are right now I don’t see a scenario where the primary will turn out in my favor. And that is a reality that is before me at this time,” Murkowski said in a news conference broadcast live over statewide television from her campaign headquarters in Anchorage.

Miller, who had received a personal call from Murkowski prior to her announcement, was quick to issue his own written statement. “Tomorrow, the general election begins.But tonight I’d like to reflect back on the amazing feat we accomplished together. We started from a handful of people knowing who we were and what we stood for to now being the Republican Party nominee,” he wrote. (Click here to read Joe Miller’s comments.)

District 35’s voting results had favored Joe Miller over incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski by just under 200 votes or 1,223 to 1,056, counting it among the Interior and Mat-Su Valley voters who gave Miller the edge at the close of election day.
With about 9,000 outstanding ballots by the end of Tuesday remaining to be counted, the race seemed too close to call. Some 2,300 were estimated to be from the Kenai Peninsula, with only about 500 of those counted by 4 p.m.
Statewide, the two hung by a difference of 1,294 ballots by press time Tuesday at 3 p.m. Miller, a Fairbanks judge, led narrowly since returns came in election night.
A close look at how District 35 voted, an area stretching from Seward to Seldovia, shows Miller won in seven out of 11 communities. The vote was close, but Miller was favored over incumbent Murkowski in all but the precincts at Kachemak City-Fritz Creek, Seldovia, Cooper Landing and Seward. At Seldovia the count was 35 for Miller, 36 for Murkowski. In Cooper Landing, it was a tie – 45-45. Seward’s ballots separated them in a Murkowki lead 146-121. Miller enjoyed the broadest margin at Anchor Point, 195 to 116.
Homer’s precincts No. 1, No. 2 and Diamond Ridge gave Miller slightly broader leads over Murkowski with tallies of 201-176, 196-155 and 81-60 respectively.
District 35 is amongst other areas of the state with many outstanding ballots that won’t likely be counted until Friday, according to the Division of Elections. Some 13,475 citizens of this part of the Peninsula are registered to vote, yet only 3,665 ballot results were reported so far. The Division of Elections will be updating ballots counted by precinct later this week. District 34 and 33 include Kenai-Soldotna-Nikiski and Hope.
The governor’s election was another close race for Kenai Peninsula voters. On the Republican ticket, Gov. Sean Parnell faced stiff opposition from Bill Walker’s followers in a 1,157 to 816 vote. Ralph Samuels, a state legislator, won 159 votes.
Voters also vacillated over Democratic contenders for governor, Ethan Berkowitz and Hollis French, in a close 566 to 518 count.

HOMER TRIBUNE/file photo - Sen. Lisa Murkowski receives a hug from a fan at the Kenai Peninsula State Fair the week prior to the Aug. 24 primary.

Diane Benson won the Democratic race for lieutenant governor by a large margin in District 35. She took 819 votes to Jack Powers’ 126; Jeffery Brown won 103. On the Republican ballot, Mead Treadwell won by a long margin with 1,218 votes to Jay Ramas’ 426 votes. Eddie Burke won 257 votes.
Voters didn’t favor Ballot Measure 1, the referendum on changing who could contribute to political campaigns. Voters on the Peninsula divided out as 2,189 against it and 1,365 in favor.
On the most fiercely contested ballot Measure 2, Peninsula voters were in line with statewide ballots that favor instituting parental consent for teens prior to obtaining abortion services. That vote was 1,927 to 1,670.
State races

Slipping under the radar in this election season were the district’s two Legislative seats occupied by Sen. Gary Stevens of Kodiak and Rep. Paul Seaton Homer. Both incumbents ran uncontested in the primary and therefore face no contest in the Nov. 4 election.
Seaton said he didn’t have the distraction of a campaign and so was able to focus on work ahead in the next legislative session, such as getting a natural gasline built to Homer. That project appears fraught with problems at the moment. But the U.S. Senate race caught him by surprise, he said, and if Murkowski indeed loses, it will have an impact on how much Alaskans are able to gain in federal attention to certain projects.
“It was quite a surprise to me. My understanding is in the past week things had tightened up (in the Murkowski-Miller) race. It was a surprise to most people,” Seaton said Wednesday morning.
Murkowski is in a Senate leadership role and sits on the appropriations committee. “As a freshman, for Miller it will take time to establish those kinds of positions. I’ve never met Mr. Miller. So I don’t have personal contact information with him.”
Miller is an unknown entity with whom not many Alaskans have had political contact. He once ran unsuccessfully for an Alaska House seat, but has not served in political office. Miller is an attorney, served as a district and federal judge, and comes with high academic credentials in degrees from Annapolis and Yale University. He is 43 years old.
Voter turnout

The top polling spot in the entire district for voter turnout came from Kachemak City-Fritz Creek. Out of 1,579 voters registered there, 33.31 percent came to vote. Pollster Gert Seekins pointed out that even though Homer celebrated some of the warmest temperatures all summer, voters came in steady droves to the polls.
“I was amazed. I think we broke records. Here it was, so beautiful out, and people came to vote. That’s a sign of a good community, a caring community,” Seekins said.
Moose Pass also had a good turnout with 30.72 percent; the next highest was Diamond Ridge, with 30.33 percent.