Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect additional comments and election results.
The unofficial results are in for the Republican primary race in House District 31, but it’s still unclear which of the three candidates in the race will face incumbent and former Republican Paul Seaton in the general election.
Homeschooling mother and Homer resident Sarah Vance leads the race with 1,033 votes, but Anchor Point businessman John Cox trails Vance by just 30 votes.
Vance said she’s pleased with the results and is ready to turn her attention toward the general election.
“I’m excited to see the results, and I look forward to the final count in a couple of weeks to see that I’m still in the lead,” Vance said over the phone Tuesday evening. “I just want to thank voters for putting their trust in me to represent them in the general election, and I look forward to defeating Paul Seaton in the general.”
This was Vance’s first run for state office, but it’s certainly not her first foray in politics. She was heavily involved in a contentious push for the recall of three Homer City Council members in 2017, and she unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the council last fall.
But her victory this time around isn’t quite guaranteed. The state Division of Elections included nearly 80 absentee and early voting ballots in Tuesday’s results. Some absentee ballots could still trickle in before the division certifies the count and the division still needs to tally questioned ballots.
The division does not keep track of absentee ballots by district, and it’s also unknown how many questioned ballots were issued at the polls Tuesday, making it unclear just how much the results may shift.
Cox remained hopeful Tuesday evening, hoping that the final count would tip the results in his favor.
“It’s a nail bitter. It’s not over yet,” Cox said with optimism. “We were down 35, then it went up to 80 and now it’s back up to 30. It’s exciting, it’s exciting, and that’s one of the things I love about politics.”
Cox won heavily in his home precinct in Anchor Point and narrowly eked out a win in the Fritz Creek-Kachemak City area. Vance won in the remaining seven precincts. Henry Kroll of Soldotna also ran for the Republican Party’s nomination in the district, but came in third with just 14 percent of the vote overall.
Nona Safra chairs the local Republican Party, and she said Tuesday’s results were tighter than she expected.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect, but yea, it was closer,” Safra said Wednesday. “I love when the voters get involved and speak up, and that’s we’re hearing. So, we’re very excited, and we’re just waiting until the vote gets certified.”
Safra added that no matter which candidate walks away with the win, the party is excited to face Seaton in the general, who has been the party’s nominee on the southern Kenai Peninsula for over a decade.
Seaton and the Republican Party have been at odds since he joined a bipartisan coalition in the House in 2016. He left the party earlier this year to run unopposed as a non-partisan candidate in the Democratic primary.
Seaton held a viewing party at his campaign headquarters in Homer Tuesday evening to watch the results in the Republican race. He said he’s eager to see who he’ll face in the general, but he said he doesn’t have a preferred opponent.
“That’s the selection by the party and that will be interesting debates as it goes. I mean, hope there’s going to be interesting debates,” Seaton said over the phone Tuesday night.
Seaton was referring to Vance, who declined to speak with KBBI and Homer News leading up to the primary election.
The race for the District 31 House Seat was not the only race voters on the southern Kenai Peninsula weighed in on.
In contested races on the Republican ballot, voters in the district favored Edie Grunwald of Palmer in the race for lieutenant governor. Former Wasilla state Senator Mike Dunleavy took over half of the republican vote in the district. About 36 percent of District 31 Republican voters favored former lieutenant governor Mead Treadwell.
U.S. House Rep. Don Young didn’t face any serious competitors in the Republican primary and won handily.
On the Democratic ballot, former U.S. Senator Mark Begich won by a large margin in the district and U.S. House candidate Alyse Galvin also enjoyed a big win against her main opponent Dimitri Shein.
Voter turnout throughout the district was at 23 percent. The final vote count from the state Division of Elections is due on Aug. 31, and the general election will be held on Nov. 6.
