ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Candidates in Alaska’s U.S. Senate and House races are making a last-minute push for votes as election day approaches.
Events leading to Tuesday’s elections include door-to-door get-out-the-vote efforts and waving signs.
The main U.S. Senate candidates are the Republican incumbent Lisa Murkowski, Democrat Ray Metcalfe, Libertarian Joe Miller and independent Margaret Stock.
The main House candidates are Republican Rep. Don Young and Democrat Steve Lindbeck.
Young was in Bethel and Anchorage over the weekend, Young spokesman Matt Shuckerow said by email. Lindbeck was campaigning in Anchorage.
Lindbeck has questioned Young’s effectiveness and brought up during the campaign past ethics concerns and gaffes by Young.
“I think the race is really close,” Lindbeck said Sunday from his campaign office, just down the street from Young’s. “Everywhere I go, people are talking about it and feel there’s a need for a change.”
Young, who is seeking a 23rd term, has touted his experience. A radio ad from his campaign refers to Young as “the anti-establishment candidate from the day he was first elected to Congress.”
The ad emphasizes Young’s “long-standing track record of success for Alaska,” Shuckerow said.
In the Senate race, Miller and Stock have been trying to break through in a crowded field that also includes lesser-known independent and write-in candidates.
Murkowski, who holds a huge fundraising edge and enjoys widespread name recognition, has said she’s taking nothing for granted.
On Sunday, Stock, an immigration attorney, walked through an Anchorage neighborhood, snow and ice crunching beneath her feet on a bone-chilling day, hoping to drum up support among likely voters.
At several of the stops, there was no answer or she met people who had no questions about her campaign.
At one house, the person who answered said his mom was already voting for Stock. At another, a woman expressed concern with the economy. Stock spoke briefly with a man who told her he doesn’t vote because those elected don’t follow through on promises.
“Well, I’m hoping to do that. I’m not a career politician,” she told him.
One of Stock’s biggest issues is people not knowing she’s running. She said people get excited about her candidacy when they learn about her.
Factions of the Democratic party have endorsed Stock over Metcalfe, who has run a low-profile race and feuded with party leaders over the party’s direction.
Stock is participating in the Democratic party’s coordinated campaign, which gives her access to resources, like voter information. Stock has said she’s not a Democrat.
Both she and Miller have tried to cast themselves as outsiders and Murkowski as part of the problem in a broken Congress.
Miller beat Murkowski in 2010 GOP Senate primary but Murkowski won the general election with a write-in campaign. Miller joined this year’s race in September as a last-minute substitute on the Libertarian ticket after that party’s candidate withdrew.
Murkowski said Miller found a “flag of convenience to fly” to enter the race. But Miller sees himself as the conservative choice and has said his views align with the Alaska Libertarian party’s limited government platform.
“We are trying to reach as many voters with Joe’s message of liberty and opportunity as we can,” Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said by email Sunday.
Murkowski has touted her willingness to work across party lines and said Congress will need to “step it up” and act as a check and balance on the executive branch no matter who wins the presidency.
Spokesmen for Murkowski and Miller said they were attending Sunday’s memorial for a Fairbanks police sergeant who died following complications from surgery after being shot last month.
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