Alaska primary gets underway for key Senate race
August 19th, 2014
01:11 PM ET
6 years ago

Alaska primary gets underway for key Senate race

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(CNN) - With Alaska's U.S. Senate seat considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic seats this fall, both Republicans and Democrats have a lot at stake in Tuesday's GOP primary.

The winner of the crowded race will square off against incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in November. Republicans, who need a net win of six seats to retake control of the Senate, have focused on the contest in the traditionally red state of Alaska as a key turnover possibility

Dan Sullivan, former natural resource commissioner and former state attorney general, is considered the Republican frontrunner due to his sizable fundraising advantage and steady lead in recent polls.

He's running against Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell and attorney Joe Miller, the latter of whom has strong backing from tea party supporters. Miller is also known for defeating incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the 2010 GOP primary. But Murkowski ultimately won the general election with a write-in campaign.

Begich's allies have been aggressive in the race, pouring millions into ads that mostly target Sullivan, the Republican who could be the most competitive against Begich in the general election.

Sullivan's critics have zeroed in on his residency in Alaska. While the candidate has lived and worked in the state, he's originally from Ohio and didn't live in Alaska for a chunk of time last decade when he worked in the George W. Bush administration and in the military.


Filed under: 2016 • Alaska • Mark Begich
soundoff (8 Responses)
  1. Gurgyl

    –Alaska, go for democratic ticket. Nation will be better off. GOP trash send us to wars, loots, cheats, no healthcares, bonded labor, oil cheats. Did you know Oil is 4/, Milk is 4/ silly, ridiculous.

    August 19, 2014 02:09 pm at 2:09 pm |
  2. Rudy NYC

    I've heard that there are two "Dan Sullivans" on the Republican ticket, on two different lines.

    August 19, 2014 02:45 pm at 2:45 pm |
  3. just asking

    Gurgyl
    Did you know Oil is 4/, Milk is 4/ silly, ridiculous.
    --

    did you know democrats have been running/ruining the country for 8 years? i agree, siill and ridiculous. you can thank them if you don't like those prices.

    August 19, 2014 02:49 pm at 2:49 pm |
  4. bill

    @ just asking. Good point, but the 'gang' is not smart enough to figure that out.

    August 19, 2014 03:04 pm at 3:04 pm |
  5. excuse my rant

    just asking
    Gurgyl
    Did you know Oil is 4/, Milk is 4/ silly, ridiculous.
    -

    did you know democrats have been running/ruining the country for 8 years? i agree, siill and ridiculous. you can thank them if you don't like those prices.
    _______________________________
    By what means do you come up with Democrats have been running the country for 8 years? That puts us back to 2006 when the Democrats had the Senate and House but Republicans had the presidency. If you are going to argue that whichever party controls at least 2 out of 3 for the Presidency, Senate and House is the party that is running the country then by that argument Republicans controlled the country at the end of Bill Clinton's presidency. Then by extension Republicans were in control of the country before, during and after the September 11th attacks.

    So is that the argument you are making?

    August 19, 2014 03:10 pm at 3:10 pm |
  6. Rudy NYC

    just asking

    Gurgyl
    Did you know Oil is 4/, Milk is 4/ silly, ridiculous.
    -

    did you know democrats have been running/ruining the country for 8 years? i agree, siill and ridiculous. you can thank them if you don't like those prices.
    -------------------------–
    Did you know that Hector Slagg says that Democrats have been running the country for the last 80, no wait, for the last 100 years he says now? Do you know what that means? The majority of Americans do not like Republicans.

    August 19, 2014 03:26 pm at 3:26 pm |
  7. CALiberal

    just asking

    Democrats inherited a ruined country. Been trying to clean up the mess for the last 6 years......BIG mess.

    Alaskans would be smart to stay away from the tea party crazies.

    August 19, 2014 03:31 pm at 3:31 pm |
  8. Rudy NYC

    "So is that the argument you are making?"
    -----------------------–
    "I don't want to talk about real issues and solutions, so I'd rather argue made up minutiae."

    August 19, 2014 04:05 pm at 4:05 pm |
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