Juneau voters favored Peltola in this election — even the ones that voted for Trump

Former Republican President Donald Trump is set to return to power and preliminary election results show Republican Nick Begich III leads the race for the state’s sole U.S. House seat.

But in Juneau, there’s a slightly different story unfolding. Though voters were split on who should be president, there’s little question about who voters in the capital city wanted in the U.S. House – Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola. 

Peltola outpaced Begich in every Juneau precinct – even in the five precincts from the Juneau International Airport to Mendenhall Valley that went for Trump. Downtown and Douglas voters overwhelmingly leaned blue in both races. 

That’s different from the rest of the state. Though preliminary results show Peltola is leading in rural and coastal Alaska communities, Begich controls much of the area surrounding Anchorage and Fairbanks. And with nearly all state precincts counted as of Wednesday afternoon, the race tilts in his favor by about 10,500 votes.

Begich is an entrepreneur who lives in Chugiak. He’s a conservative from a well-known Democratic family in the state. His grandfather won the same U.S. House seat as a Democrat back in 1970.

Peltola’s favor among Juneau voters isn’t all that surprising. She already won in Juneau in her last two elections. She became the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress when she won the 2022 special election. She beat Begich then, along with Republican Sarah Palin. Months later, she also won reelection in the 2022 regular election, again beating Begich and Palin. 

In the 2020 presidential election, Juneau voters overall opted for the Democratic choices as well — Joe Biden for president, Al Gross for U.S. Senate and Alyse Galvin for House. 

Election results are not yet final. Begich holds 49.6% of the vote to Peltola’s 45.5% as of Wednesday evening. The current vote tally is just first-choice ballots. If neither candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, ranked-choice tabulation will determine the winner on Nov. 20.

The Alaska Division of Elections on Wednesday did not give a clear timeline of when updated results would be released.

Juneau’s local delegation in the Alaska Legislature are all Democrats. In this election, incumbent Sen. Jesse Kiehl, Rep. Andi Story and Rep. Sara Hannan ran unopposed. They will all serve another term.