Leading into the new year, KSRM will be recapping our top ten stories of 2014: exploring the issues that had the deepest impact on our community.
The 2014 general elections saw two major incumbents upset in large scale races.
Although known as the “land of the incumbent”, Alaskans chose the uncommon Bill Walker/Byron Mallot unity ticket for governor over incumbent Sean Parnell.
Walker has said, they met as competitors and now are a team.
Another high profile upset occurred when prior Alaska attorney general Dan Sullivan ousted incumbent Mark Begich from his seat in the U.S. Senate.
At first, many attributed Sullivan’s popularity to confusion with the Anchorage Mayor who was running as Gov. Parnell’s Lt. Governor, but soon the battle between Begich and Sullivan for the U.S. Senate set him apart.
He even gained national popularity as the opportunity to change the U.S. Senate from Republican Senators like Ted Cruz of Texas.
Sen. Cruz: The men and woman of Alaska will cast a ballot to retire Hairy Reed to change the path we’re on from the failed Obama economic agenda and get back to an environment where small business can prosper where jobs and opportunities and plentiful and where the federal government defends out constitutional rights rather than attacking our constitutional rights.”
Alaska’s U.S. Congressman Don Young remained in his position despite a valid attempt by a young veteran.
Forrest Dunbar came the closest to ousting Young since Ethan Berkowitz gained 45% in 2008.
After the election, Dunbar conceded to Young after garnering 40% of Alaska’s vote.
Dunbar: “Overall I feel very positively, I feel like we ran a good campaign, I was honored to get the chance to go all over Alaska and meet the people and see the things I got to see and the result, while it wasn’t victorious, I thought it was still very positive considering how much we were outspent.”
As for the Kenai Peninsula legislators, Senator Peter Micciche, Senator Paul Seaton, Representative Kurt Olson, and Speaker of the House Mike Chenault all kept their seats as well.