Primary Outlook: Women Candidates in Alaska

Kelly Dittmar

Gender Watch 2018From March to December 2018, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation (BLFF) and the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) partnered to offer Gender Watch 2018, which tracked, analyzed, and illuminated gender dynamics in the 2018 midterm elections. With the help of expert scholars and practitioners, Gender Watch 2018 furthered public understanding of how gender influences candidate strategy, voter engagement and expectations, media coverage, and electoral outcomes in campaigns. The blog below was written for Gender Watch 2018, as part of our collective effort to raise questions, suggest answers, and complicate popular discussions about gender’s role U.S. elections.

 

Ahead of the Alaska primary election on August 19, 2018, we outline the numbers and proportions of women who have filed as candidates for congressional and statewide office. The data below also provide points of historical comparison to give context to today’s presence and potential success of women candidates.

All data are provided from the Center for American Women and Politics, Eagleton Institute of Politics, Rutgers University. For a full list of the women candidates in Alaska primary races for congressional and statewide offices, see CAWP’s Election Watch page.

CONGRESS

Current: 1 (1R) of 3 members of the Alaska congressional delegation (33.3%)
Filed: 2 (2D)
Percent of all Filed Congressional Candidates (D/R):  28.6% (2 of 7)

SENATE

Current: 1 of 2 senators

  • Incumbent U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R), the first and only woman to serve in Congress from Alaska, is not up for re-election this year.

HOUSE

Current: 0 of 1 representative (0%)

  • No woman has ever served in the U.S. House from Alaska.

Filed:  2 (2D)

  • 2 Democratic women are running to challenge the Republican incumbent of Alaska’s at-large district.

Districts with Women Candidates:  1 of 1
Percent of all Filed House Candidates (D/R):  28.6% (2 of 7)
Percent of all Filed Democratic House Candidates:  50% (2 of 4)
Percent of all Filed Republican House Candidates: 0% (0 of 3)

Recent history: The number of women who filed for major party candidacy for the U.S. House in Alaska in 2018 is not a record high. Two women also ran for Alaska’s at-large congressional seat in both 2008 and 2012.

GOVERNOR

Current: 0

One woman has served as governor of Alaska: Sarah Palin (R) served from 2007 to 2009.

Filed: 0

Percent of all Filed Gubernatorial Candidates (D/R):  0% (0 of 9)*
Percent of all Filed Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates:  0% (0 of 1)
Percent of all Filed Republican Gubernatorial Candidates: 0% (0 of 7)
Percent of all Independent Gubernatorial Candidates: 0% (0 of 1)

*Includes Incumbent Governor Bill Walker, who is an Independent.

LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR

Current: 0

Filed: 4 (1D, 3R)

  • All 4 (1D, 3R) women candidates for lieutenant governor are running to challenge the incumbent Independent lieutenant governor.

Percent of all Filed Candidates for Lieutenant Governor (D/R):  50% (4 of 8)*
Percent of all Filed Democratic Candidates for Lieutenant Governor:  100% (1 of 1)
Percent of all Filed Republican Candidates for Lieutenant Governor: 50% (3 of 6)
Percent of all Independent Candidates for Lieutenant Governor: 0% (0 of 1)

*Includes Incumbent Lieutenant Governor Byron Mallot, who is an Independent.

Kelly Dittmar headshot

Kelly Dittmar

Kelly Dittmar is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Rutgers–Camden and Director of Research and Scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. She is the co-author of A Seat at the Table: Congresswomen’s Perspectives on Why Their Representation Matters (Oxford University Press, 2018) (with Kira Sanbonmatsu and Susan J. Carroll) and author of Navigating Gendered Terrain: Stereotypes and Strategy in Political Campaigns (Temple University Press, 2015).

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