2024 Alaska Senate election

The 2024 Alaska Senate elections took place on November 5, 2024, with the primary elections being held on August 20, 2024. State senators serve four-year terms in the Alaska State Senate, with half of the seats up for election every two years.^[1]

2024 Alaska Senate elections

← 2022 November 5, 2024 2026 →
10 of 20 seats in the Alaska Senate 11 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Gary Stevens (coalition) None (coalition) Shelley Hughes (minority) Party Republican Democratic Republican Leader since January 17, 2023 Leader's seat C District Seats before 8 9 3 Seats after 6 9 6 Seat change 2 3
Democratic coalition hold      Republican coalition hold      Minority Republican caucus gain      No election
Senate President before election Gary Stevens Republican (coalition) Elected Senate President Gary Stevens Republican (coalition)

Background

Republicans maintained control of the state senate from the 2012 election until the 2022 midterms, after which a coalition government between 8 of the 11 Republicans and all 9 Democrats was formed.^[2] The 3 remaining Republicans did not join the coalition; none of their seats are up for election. Some majority-coalition Republicans faced conservative opponents who vowed not to join the caucus, such as Jesse Bjorkman and Kelly Merrick, who face challenges from State Representatives Ben Carpenter and Ken McCarty respectively.^[3] David Wilson also faces a conservative challenger in Mat-Su Assemblymember Robert Yundt for joining the majority caucus.^[4]

Bjorkman and Merrick ultimately prevailed after ranked-choice votes were tabulated, while Yundt defeated Wilson outright. In the open R District held by coalition Republican Click Bishop, non-coalition Republican state representative Mike Cronk won. The bipartisan coalition thus lost two seats but held its supermajority.^[5]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball[6]	Lean Coal.	October 23, 2024

Overview

Primary elections

2024 Alaska State Senate election Primary election – August 20, 2024[7]
Party		Votes	%	Candidates	Advancing to general	Seats contesting
	Republican	26,810	51.06	16	12	7
	Democratic	20,988	39.97	8	8	8
	Undeclared	4,056	7.72	2	2	2
	Independence	653	1.24	2	1	1
Totals		52,507	100.00	28	23	—

General election

Party		Leader	Before	After	Change
	Coalition	Gary Stevens	17[a]	14[b]	3
	Republican	Shelley Hughes	3	6	3
Total			20	20

Summary of results

District	Incumbent	Party		Elected Senator	Party
B	Jesse Kiehl		Dem	Jesse Kiehl		Dem
D	Jesse Bjorkman		Rep	Jesse Bjorkman		Rep
F	James D. Kaufman		Rep	James D. Kaufman[c]		Rep
H	Matt Claman		Dem	Matt Claman		Dem
J	Forrest Dunbar		Dem	Forrest Dunbar		Dem
L	Kelly Merrick		Rep	Kelly Merrick		Rep
N	David Wilson		Rep	Robert Yundt		Rep
P	Scott Kawasaki		Dem	Scott Kawasaki		Dem
R	Click Bishop†		Rep	Mike Cronk		Rep
T	Donny Olson		Dem	Donny Olson		Dem

Retirements

1. R District: Click Bishop is retiring.^[8]

Detailed results

• Source for general election first-choice votes^[9]
• Source for primary results^[7]

• Certified candidate list^[10]

District B

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jesse Kiehl (incumbent)	6,256	100.0
Total votes			6,256	100.0

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jesse Kiehl (incumbent)	15,508	96.51
	Write-in		561	3.49
Total votes			16,069	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Coalition hold

District D

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Coalition Republican	Jesse Bjorkman (incumbent)	2,924	44.3
	Republican	Ben Carpenter	2,660	40.3
	Democratic	Tina Wegener	845	12.8
	Independence	Andy Cizek (withdrew)	172	2.6
Total votes			6,601	100.0

General election^[11]

Party		Candidate	First choice			Round 1			Round 2
			Votes	%	Transfer	Votes	%	Transfer	Votes	%
	Coalition Republican	Jesse Bjorkman	9,234	47.82%	+23	9,257	47.92%	+545	9,802	54.71%
	Republican	Ben Carpenter	7,848	40.64%	+17	7,865	40.71%	+249	8,114	45.29%
	Democratic	Tina Wegener	2,182	11.3%	+14	2,196	11.37%	-2,196	Eliminated
	Write-in		47	0.24%	-47	Eliminated
Total votes			19,311			19,318			17,916
Blank or inactive ballots						820		+1,402	2,222
	Republican hold
	Coalition hold

District F

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Janice Park	2,737	48.8
	Coalition Republican	James D. Kaufman (incumbent)	2,563	45.7
	Republican	Harold Borbridge	307	5.5
Total votes			5,607	100.0

General election^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	First choice			Round 1			Round 2
			Votes	%	Transfer	Votes	%	Transfer	Votes	%
	Coalition Republican	James D. Kaufman	8,147	47.9%	+33	8,180	48.1%	+498	8,678	52.8%
	Democratic	Janice Park	7,646	45.0%	+11	7,657	45.0%	+87	7,744	47.2%
	Republican	Harold Borbridge	1,178	6.9%	+6	1,184	7.0%	-	Eliminated
	Write-in		35	0.21%	-	Eliminated
Total votes			17,006			17,021			16,422
Blank or inactive ballots						946		+599	1,545
	Republican hold
	Coalition hold

District H

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Matt Claman (incumbent)	4,036	60.1
	Republican	Thomas McKay (withdrew)	1,393	20.7
	Republican	Liz Vazquez	1,287	19.2
Total votes			6,716	100.0

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Matt Claman (incumbent)	9,924	55.24
	Republican	Liz Vazquez	7,989	44.47
	Write-in		53	0.3
Total votes			17,966	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Coalition hold

District J

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Forrest Dunbar (incumbent)	2,253	72.3
	Independent	Cheronda Smith[d]	863	27.7
Total votes			3,116	100.0

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Forrest Dunbar (incumbent)	7,292	69.83
	Independent	Cheronda Smith[d]	3,022	28.94
	Write-in		129	1.24
Total votes			10,443	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Coalition hold

District L

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Coalition Republican	Kelly Merrick (incumbent)	2,332	33.9
	Republican	Jared Goecker	2,247	32.7
	Democratic	Lee Hammermeister	1,003	14.6
	Republican	Ken McCarty (withdrew)	779	11.3
	Republican	Sharon Jackson (withdrew)	513	7.5
Total votes			6,874	100.0

After the primary, McCarty withdrew from the race and endorsed Goecker. This would normally mean that Jackson, the fifth place finisher, would move up, but she also withdrew and endorsed Goecker.^[14]

General election^[15][12]

Party		Candidate	First choice			Round 1			Round 2
			Votes	%	Transfer	Votes	%	Transfer	Votes	%
	Coalition Republican	Kelly Merrick	9,050	46.3%	+42	9,092	46.5%	+800	9,892	55.5%
	Republican	Jared Goecker	7,685	39.3%	+13	7,698	39.4%	+241	7,939	44.5%
	Democratic	Lee Hammermeister	2,754	14.1%	+16	2,770	14.2%	-2,770	Eliminated
	Write-in		51	0.3%	-51	Eliminated
Total votes			19,540			19,560			17,831
Blank or inactive ballots						780		+1,729	2,509
	Republican hold
	Coalition hold

District N

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Coalition Republican	David Wilson (incumbent)	1,724	41.4
	Republican	Robert Yundt	1,360	32.7
	Republican	Stephen Wright	1,080	25.9
Total votes			4,164	100.0

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert Yundt	8,163	52.69
	Coalition Republican	David S. Wilson (incumbent)	4,525	29.21
	Republican	Stephen Wright	2,619	16.9
	Write-in		186	1.2
Total votes			15,493	100.0
	Republican hold
	Minority Caucus gain from Coalition

District P

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Leslie Hajdukovich	1,764	51.35
	Democratic	Scott Kawasaki (incumbent)	1,671	48.65
Total votes			3,435	100.0

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Scott Kawasaki (incumbent)	5,913	51.39
	Republican	Leslie Hajdukovich	5,561	48.33
	Write-in		32	0.28
Total votes			11,506	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Coalition hold

District R

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Cronk	3,305	43.8
	Independent	Savannah Fletcher[d]	3,193	42.3
	Republican	James Squyres (withdrew)	572	7.6
	Independence	Robert Williams	481	6.4
Total votes			7,551	100.0

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Cronk	9,387	51.84
	Independent	Savannah Fletcher[d]	7,509	41.47
	Independence	Robert Williams	1,157	6.39
	Write-in		56	0.31
Total votes			18,109	100.0
	Republican hold
	Minority Caucus gain from Coalition

District T

Nonpartisan primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donny Olson (incumbent)	2,187	100

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donny Olson (incumbent)	6,273	97.63
	Write-in		152	2.37
Total votes			6,425	100.0
	Democratic hold
	Coalition hold

Notes

1. Consists of 9 Democrats and 8 Republicans.
2. Consists of 9 Democrats and 5 Republicans.
3. After the election Sen. Kaufman left the majority coalition to caucus with the minority Republicans.
4. Listed on the ballot as "Undeclared"

See also

• List of Alaska State Legislatures