Open Secrets News "Alaska independents defy political norms in race to unseat Republicans"

Zamone Perez - August 13th, 2020

One political consultant described an independent run for office as a newly-hatched sea turtle struggling for the shoreline.

A hatchling breaks through the safety of the egg, digging itself out of the sand where its mother securely buried it. Then, it is a mad dash for the ocean — predator seagulls and crabs lurk in the sky and sand. Only one in 1,000 survive.

Independent candidates face those same long odds. But in Alaska, these candidates — hatchlings who often defy the conventional political norms of survival — don’t only run for office. Sometimes, they survive and win.

In both Alaska’s U.S. House and Senate elections, independent candidates — Al Gross for the Senate and Alyse Galvin for the House — are challenging Republican incumbents.

A Chance to Reach the Ocean?

In 2018, independent public education advocate Alyse Galvin lost in her bid to defeat Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) — the longest serving member of the House — in Alaska’s at-large district election. Young defeated Galvin 53 percent to 47 percent, his closest margin of victory since his first win in a 1973 special election.

Now in 2020, the at-large House race between Young and Galvin is the most closely watched of the two races, given Young’s smaller than average margin of victory in 2018, current polling and second-quarter fundraising hauls by the Galvin campaign. Some political observers say Galvin’s second run builds on her 2018 momentum and better name ID among voters.

Throughout the campaign, Galvin has steadily outraised Young, as she did in 2018. Since the last filing period on July 29, Galvin’s fundraising total was close to double that of Young — $2.2 million to nearly $1.4 million. The Galvin campaign has spent $824,000 million dollars on her election bid, while Young spent more than $747,000. Galvin has nearly $1.4 million left in the bank, while Young has only a little more than $700,000 cash on hand.

Young, who is running for his 25th term in Congress, has made his seniority on Capitol Hill a major cornerstone of his campaign. He has also worked to label Galvin as a liberal.

Truman Reed — campaign manager for Young — argued that although Galvin has run as an independent, she has been funded by Democratic groups and politicians “in the Lower 48.”

“Alyse Galvin is no independent,” Reed said in an email to OpenSecrets. “She has been funded by far left Democrats from across the country … Alaskans would be starting over with Alyse Galvin, no seniority, no relationships, no ability to get anything done.”

Malcolm Phelan, Galvin’s campaign manager, defended Galvin’s independent credentials, and blasted Young for his campaign finances.

“Alyse has put this race on the map because she is an independent whose campaign is funded by real people, not deep-pocketed special interests,” Phelan said. “After nearly five decades in the Washington swamp, Don Young is a prime example of why we need to get corporate money out of politics and have true campaign finance reform.”