The race to Alaska governor’s mansion continues to heat up as the four primary candidates make the final push to the November 8th election of Alaska’s governor.
In-spite-of unprecedented events including a lawsuit filed for harassment and a running-mate suspending her campaign; Republican candidate Charlie Pierce has no intention of dropping-out of the Alaska governor’s race in the final weeks. Pierce appeared on KSRM’s Sound-Off on Wednesday.
Pierce stated that remaining in the race shows his appreciation for his supporters.
“I want to say to the folks that have supported and encouraged my campaign the last several months, I want to thank you first and foremost and encourage you to stay with me. We’re in this race to the very end and I think that the honorable thing to do is to finish what you start.”
In regards to the current allegations and the lawsuit of sexual harassment while serving as the Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor,
Pierce stated, “Certainly there are things that I can not talk about that potentially could be litigated in the future and I won’t talk about those things. But I will tell you this, in America it’s Liberty and Justice for all and I would say that there’s issues that certainly unexpected but this issue needs to the tried in a court of law and not in a court of public opinion.”
In pursuit of the governor’s office, Pierce teamed with Lieutenant Governor candidate Edie Grunwald and the pair finished fourth in the primary, advancing the republican team to the general election.
“Financially, that was one of the big issues we suffered with was a lack of money to actually go everywhere and get our message out. It takes money to run a campaign. We certainly thought we would have more money, but we didn’t. Maybe that should have been an indicator to me earlier on what the fight was.”
Grunwald announced Tuesday that she was withdrawing from the campaign team and urging voters to support Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s re-election bid.
Pierce received notice via an email from Grunwald.
“My lieutenant governor sent me a text message yesterday (Tuesday) around noon unexpectedly; had no prior discussion or warning that a concern was there. And she resigned. Tried to follow it up with a request for a phone call and got no response.”
Grunwald released a statement saying, “I believe my stepping down at this time is in the best interest of Alaskans and a demonstration of my support for all women, regardless of political affiliation.”
The Pierce-Grunwold team will remain on the ballot for the upcoming election.
Alaska’s in-person, general election is Tuesday, November 8th with early and absentee voting already underway and mail-in voting also available.
