ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The winner of Alaska’s Republican Senate primary, Dan Sullivan, successfully turned back tea party opposition during an at-times contentious 10-month race. Next up, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich, who has tagged Sullivan as an outsider in a state where relationships and roots matter.
A former natural resources commissioner and attorney general for Alaska, Sullivan is a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps reserves who, around this time last year, was deployed overseas in Afghanistan. His resume could appeal to the influential bloc of military personnel in the state, which has a high population of veterans. Still, he was born and raised in a Cleveland suburb and graduated from Harvard and Georgetown universities. He moved to Alaska in the 1990s but left in 2002 for a White House fellowship. He later worked as an assistant secretary of state in President George W. Bush’s administration, and lived in Maryland while working on the East Coast.
“I love Alaska. This is my home,” Sullivan says in an ad that features his wife, Julie, who is from Alaska.
Begich, born and raised in Alaska and a former Anchorage mayor whose father was a congressman for the state, has adopted a pithy and not-so-subtle campaign motto as a counter to his Republican opponent: “True Alaska.”
Alaska Republicans on Tuesday nominated Sullivan with 40 percent of the vote counted, completing the GOP establishment’s rout of tea party challengers in states critical to the battle for Senate control in November. The GOP needs to gain six seats to topple the Democratic majority, and conservative Alaska is one of the most competitive races in the country.
Without significant primary competition, Begich had a head start on Sullivan and used that time to boost his native bona fides. He opened campaign offices in far-flung locales. And in an oft-run campaign ad, he rode a snowmachine in the Arctic and spoke about fighting President Barack Obama’s administration to help secure offshore drilling permits.
Begich captured his first term against Republican Sen. Ted Stevens in 2008, a campaign in which Stevens defended himself against federal corruption charges and was convicted eight days before the election. Begich won, but Stevens’ conviction was later overturned and some voters felt cheated.
Sullivan brings to the contest a fundraising prowess that has rivaled Begich’s. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appeared in an American Crossroads ad endorsing him in the primary fight. The Karl Rove-affiliated group and a related organization, Crossroads GPS, have reserved millions of dollars of air time through Election Day.
Also backing Sullivan are the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the anti-tax Club for Growth, which created headaches for the establishment this election cycle by backing right-flank candidates against incumbents. After Sullivan’s win, Club for Growth President Chris Chocola called Sullivan “a pro-growth conservative” and said “voters in Alaska want to send a message to President Obama, and they’ll do it by electing taxpayer hero Dan Sullivan in November.”
For months, Democrats have tried to paint Sullivan as a carpetbagger. Put Alaska First, a pro-Begich super PAC, spent $4 million on ads describing Sullivan as an outsider who can’t be trusted and has reserved another $4 million in airtime for the general election.
Shortly after the primary results, Democrats made clear that they weren’t about to let the issue die. A statement from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee after Sullivan’s win called him an outsider.
At a Wasilla-area polling place Tuesday, Bruce Geraghty, 60, voted for Sullivan. He said he admired Sullivan’s military service and his efforts to push back against federal overreach while attorney general. As a former natural resources commissioner, “he understands the Alaska economy, that the Alaska economy is based on resources,” Geraghty said.
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Associated Press writer Donna Cassata in Washington contributed to this report.