Alaska's 2020 election: A red state's closest margin in nearly 30 years
In short: Alaska is historically a Republican stronghold, yet the 2020 election saw it shift closer to the center than ever before. While the outcome remained predictable for most, the narrowing gap revealed a changing political landscape in the Last Frontier.
Except for 1964, Alaska has supported the Republican presidential candidate in every election following its 1959 entry into the Union. In that outlier year, Lyndon B. Johnson carried the state with 65.91% of the vote. While the state stayed 14.51 percentage points more Republican than the nation's mean in 2020, Donald Trump's 10.06% win was the narrowest since 1992. The Republican Party actually canceled its primary and caucus events in 2019, claiming they were pointless because of the incumbent's status. This move left the party's 29 national pledged delegates to be bound to Trump during a formal convention in April 2020.
The 2020 cycle saw significant Democratic gains. A Democrat's highest vote share in Alaska since 1964 was achieved by Joe Biden, representing the second instance since 1968 where a Democrat exceeded 40%. Biden also became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Anchorage since 1964 and the first to secure a majority in Haines Borough since that same year. Despite these shifts, 13 of 14 news organizations correctly predicted a Trump victory prior to the vote. The Democratic Party shifted to a mail-in system for its primary in March 2020 to address pandemic concerns. Meanwhile, the Libertarian Party nominee was ultimately selected on the fourth ballot of their national convention.
The state's unique voting mechanics also played a role in the timeline. Because it delayed tallying early or absentee ballots submitted between October 29 and November 10, Alaska was among the final states to be declared. Mail-in ballots were required to be received by November 13, and counting concluded by November 18. Ultimately, Trump secured Alaska's three electoral votes, with all three pledged electors casting their votes for him and Mike Pence on December 14, 2020. On 6 January 2021, a joint session of Congress formally approved the state's electoral votes. This followed a meeting of all state electors in their respective capitals on December 14, 2020.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: 2020 United States presidential election in Alaska
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