Insanity: Ranked Choice Voting – 12 Candidates for Governor
Contributed by Doug Ferguson
It’s hard not to view this early stage of the race for Alaska governor in 2026 without realizing the insanity of what is going on.
Regardless of whether Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) gets on the ballet or not, for the next election it will still be in effect. For traditional patriotic Republicans to have any chance of getting a true American patriot for Governor with the best interests of Alaska at heart with RCV still in effect, the party should get behind the one strongest candidate with all the party’s combined resources. This is needed to overcome what has been a past pattern of pouring huge amounts of outside “dark” money into their candidate’s campaign so as to take advantage of the RCV mess and elect left wing politicians in this basically conservative state.
So, what are they doing instead? As of the end of November, no less than a dozen individuals have declared their candidacy! Who are the true patriots who will have Alaska’s real best interests a heart and how can you tell? And if you could tell, how do you know which one has the best chance to win? For the average Alaskan, it currently is impossible to know where each candidate stands, who are patriotic Republicans, independents, RINO’s or closet left wingers who have been “planted”.
We used to have a party primary to do this, but the other terrible effect of the legislation that brought us RCV also included the elimination of party primaries, thus amplifying the chaos that RCV creates. Unless primaries ever get restored, the average voter will never know who is the strongest candidate with the best interests for the party.
There still is time for Republican leadership to recognize the ridiculousness of all these candidates running and convince all but the best to drop out and get behind the one who has the most realistic chance to win under the current conditions.
This election is now less than a year away. Meanwhile you can let your district representatives know what you think about this ridiculous farce and how it will affect your vote for or against them, depending on their actions to try and remedy things. For things to change, citizen voices need to be heard!
In the long run history will tell what our political leaders will be incented to do, if anything!