The2022 Alaska Senate elections took place on November 8, 2022, with the primary elections being held on August 16, 2022.[1] State senators serve four-year terms in the Alaska Senate, with half of the seats normally up for election every two years.[2] However, because most districts were greatly changed inredistricting, elections were held for 19 of the 20 seats; the only exception is District T, represented by DemocratDonny Olson, which was mostly unchanged in redistricting and thus did not have an election. Some senators were elected to serve four-year terms, while others would serve shortened two-year terms.[3]
Followingthe previous election in 2020,Republicans had control of the Alaska Senate, with 13 seats toDemocrats' seven seats. One Democrat caucused with the Republicans, giving them a governing majority of 14 seats.
After the 2022 elections, Republicans lost two seats to Democrats, reducing their majority to 11–9. However, a coalition government was formed with eight Republicans and all nine Democrats.
In 2020, Alaskan voters approved Ballot Measure 2, an initiative to implement anonpartisan blanket top-four primary with a single, open primary where candidates from all parties are listed on the ballot and the top four vote getters advance to the general election.[4] The general election is then resolved usinginstant-runoff voting, where voters rank the candidates and the candidates receiving the lowest votes are eliminated one by one until one candidate has a majority. The first election using the new system was the 2022 election cycle. As of the close of candidate filing, none of the elections for the Alaska Senate had more than four candidates.
Negotiations for a governing coalition in the state senate occurred after ranked-choice votes in the state were tabulated. The bipartisan coalition was announced two days later on November 25, with eight Republicans and nine Democrats leading the new Senate majority. They stated that their top priorities would be energy costs, education, and the economy.[17] Incoming Senate PresidentGary Stevens also remarked that the bipartisan coalition was necessary to pass responsible budgets and respond to calls for "more moderation" by the electorate.[18]
^"Election Calendar".Alaska Division of Elections. Alaska Division of Elections. Archived fromthe original on March 26, 2017. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2022.
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