Alaska Sen. Mark Begich, with his wife Deborah Bonito, visited Sitka on June 26, 2014. Begich won the majority of Southeast votes Tuesday. (KCAW photo/Rachel Waldholz)
Sen. Mark Begich would be headed back to Washington, D.C., had the rest of Alaska voted like Southeast.
Bill Walker would have solidly won the governor’s race. And Forrest Dunbar probably would have squeaked by, depending on absentee and questioned ballots.
Of course, that’s not what happened statewide. But it’s how Southeast residents – as a whole – cast their ballots.
About 57 percent of Panhandle voters chose Democrat Begich over Republican Dan Sullivan. That’s not counting write-ins and small-party candidates.
Independent Bill Walker had a similar Southeast lead over Republican Gov. Sean Parnell.
Democrat Forrest Dunbar won the region’s ballot count over Republican Congressman Don Young, but by fewer than 300 votes.
Results differed by community and precinct. For example, Ketchikan and Wrangell ballots favored Sullivan, Young and Parnell.
Southeast also voted strongly for all three ballot measures: legalizing recreational marijuana, raising the minimum wage and requiring legislative approval of large-scale mining in Bristol Bay. Those results, at least, matched the statewide outcome.
See precinct-by-precinct results from:
