The fix is in.
Via ADN:
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announced Friday he is dropping his bid for re-election, and threw support to Democrat Mark Begich over Republican Mike Dunleavy.
Walker, elected as an independent, made the surprise announcement at the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention, three days after former Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott abruptly stepped down from both his office and the re-election campaign over unspecified “inappropriate comments” he made to a woman.
With less than three weeks until Election Day and with more than 23,000 absentee ballots already mailed to voters, Walker’s decision to step away from his campaign marks a significant, last-minute change in the battle to become Alaska’s next governor.
The three-way race has now become a two-way fight between Begich, a former U.S. senator, and Dunleavy, a former state senator. How this complicates voting is not yet completely clear. Some Alaskans have already sent in their voted ballots.
Walker had been scheduled to attend a candidate forum at the AFN convention Friday afternoon with his competitors Begich and Dunleavy.
Instead, he went on the stage at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center — before the forum started — and told a crowd of hundreds from across the state: “Every decision I have made as your governor, I have made on the basis of what I believe is best for Alaska. With that said, effective today, I am suspending my campaign for the re-election as governor.”
There were gasps and shouts from the audience.
An emotional Walker, in a blue kuspuk, said that with only 18 days until the election, “it has become clear, we cannot win a three-way race.” This week, he said, he talked to “many, many, many Alaskans” about who had a better chance of competing against Dunleavy.
“The determination was made that, at this point, Begich has the better odds,” Walker said.