by Phil Swibinski

Notes from the Campaign Trail: June 5

Dear Alaskans –

We are in the last week of the Special Primary, and I want to start by thanking all of you for the amazing support we have received as we move forward in this race. We are very hopeful that we will be in the top four that advance to the ranked choice Special General election on August 16. Moving forward into the general election will be an incredible honor and responsibility. Thank you for your help.

If you did not receive a ballot, have lost your ballot or just want to vote in person, polls are open everywhere. Please check out the link below, or the Division of Elections’ website to view all of the in-person voting locations. Or call the Division of Elections at 907-465-4611. Juneau, Anchorage, and Fairbanks will even have open polls on Saturday, June 11, ELECTION DAY! All other locations will be closed on Saturday. Please vote!

https://elections.alaska.gov/Core/avolocationsp.php.

This past weekend Monica and I took the camper up to the Matanuska Susitna valley again. We stayed at the Riverside RV Park in Houston alongside the Little Susitna River. There are a lot of vicious mosquitoes there, but the river is beautiful, and it even briefly rained on Friday night! Saturday evening, we enjoyed dinner and a few beers at the Palmer Alehouse. They have a great venue for music outdoors and it is always a great group of people there. The weather has been so beautiful, and it was great to be on the road again up in the Mat-Su. We talked with a young couple and then an older couple randomly sitting next to us on either side of us at the Alehouse, and they had already voted for me! It was great to listen to their priorities for Alaska — a robust economy, affordable housing and maintaining our environment for hunters and fishermen and fisherwomen.

Next week will be very busy. On Wednesday, I fly to Sitka for the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council meetings. As many of you know, I am serious about addressing the unsustainability of trawl bycatch and am advocating for sustainable fisheries. On Friday, I move on to Juneau for the Sealaska Heritage Celebration, and on Saturday afternoon Monica and I fly to Petersburg to wait out the election results from our home on Wrangell Narrows. You can follow my travels on Facebook.

We will be having three big Get Out the Vote rallies across the state this week and if you are in the area, we hope you can join one and bring as many friends as you can. We realize that many of you have already voted but it is important that we show momentum and excitement as we move forward into the next round. Please attend a rally and share pictures of these events on your social media.

  • Anchorage: Thursday, June 9, 4:30-6pm sign waving at the corner of Northern Lights and Seward Highway. Park at the Nordstrom Rack parking lot.
  • Fairbanks: Thursday, June 9, 4:30-6pm, sign waving on the corner of Geist Road and University Avenue next to Hutchison High School. Park at the Hutch.
  • Juneau: Saturday June 11, 8-9am sign waving at the corner of the downtown bridge and Egan Drive. Park at the Whale Park.

I hope that I have earned your vote and promise that if given the opportunity to advance to the Special General that I will work hard to heal the primary divisions amongst those of us who share common values, and will move forward as a team. Advancing to the Special General will also put us in good standing for the Regular Primary, both on August 16. Winning the ranked choice special general provides a very very important opportunity to be reelected as a second term congressman in November. Finishing Don Young’s term is not just a 4-month opportunity. It represents a full term, going into January, with everything that a full term of seniority represents. This cannot be overemphasized, and a lot of Alaskans are unclear about the significance of this, so please share this information with your friends. If we learned anything from Don Young, it’s that seniority matters. This is an opportunity to elect a full second term congressman in just a few months.

And most important of all please VOTE!

Thank you,
Al Gross

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