One of my functions as communications director is to heavily monitor news and blogs for any mention of candidates and issues relevant to this year's election cycle. Believe me when I say that it's advantageous to have a realtime assessment of what's being reported because in the world of communications, if you're not in-the-know, there's a good possibility you're going to get slapped with something down the road. There's also the benefit of ensuring your messaging is making good use of popular keywords and trends. 📊

In the days leading up to the Special General Election, social media, news, and blogs were rife with speculation about how it would all play out, especially in light of Ranked Choice Voting. Interest in the election was steadily ramping up.

However, interest in Mary Peltola's candidacy didn't just increase. In relative real-time I watched her metrics skyrocket a day prior to the election and reach peak popularity the day of the election - the point where the number of searches conducted in a particular region is the highest it's ever been for that period.

Having assessed that there was a lot of interest in Mary and Election Day in general, I did what any good communications director would do - I launched our Election Day messaging across all of social media with an old-school cat meme/video. Yep, there's a different kind of energy on our social media now. Click ⬇️ to bop along!

Then, the rest of the day was spent gently encouraging people to vote, highlighting the issues important to Mary and the other candidates we support, and reading as much news and as many social media posts as possible.

I will say that watching Mary's social media engagement on Election Day was fun. Many of her tweets received thousands of likes, and by the time the dust settled the next morning, it was abundantly clear that her campaign had the momentum to win in November.

While we won't know the outcome of the Special General Election to temporarily fill the seat vacated by Rep. Young until later in the month, we can infer that November's election will be determined by voter turnout and that means we can't become complacent between now and then. We must work together to ensure democratic victories this year!

If you believe that Democrats can't compete or win, you're doing it wrong. If you want freedom from Republicans trying to control your personal life and desire leaders who will work to combat the climate crisis, you'll need to show up in November and exercise your right to choose candidates who will fight for a better way of life for all Alaskans!

Well, would you look at that ⬇️ 👀

Mary Peltola has been enjoying her strong showing in the Special General Election and appears to want to celebrate the support she received by nabbing an interview with Trevor Noah! We would love to see this happen!

Mary's also been getting in on the meme action. While funny, there's also a lot of truth here because Alaska has rural communities that rely on salmon and other fish for dinner and families are struggling to get by on ever diminishing catches.

Fisheries are critical to communities across Alaska and they can't survive without someone willing to step in and fight for them. Mary is the only major candidate prioritizing this issue and she's the only candidate who has the experience to tackle it. As we look ahead to November's election, remember that Mary is running to make a better way of life for all of us!

Based on this photograph, it's reasonable to infer Mary Peltola has been nice this year. A November win would be the best holiday present for her (and us).

If you've been impressed by Mary's campaign, you ain't seen nothing yet!

Mary and democratic candidate Maxine Dibert attended a fundraiser at Fairbanks this week! Dibert is working to unseat pro-forced birth and Dunleavy ally Rep. Bart LeBon. Based on the most recent unofficial election results, just 15 votes separate Maxine from her Republican opponent, so the smiles here make a lot of sense. 🥰

The GOP put out a congratulatory tweet celebrating Governor Dunleavy's win in the Republican primary for Governor, which would have been nice had there ACTUALLY been a Republican primary...but...there wasn't one. It's hard to accept GOP claims that they are election "experts" when they don't even know how our elections work! 😂

::rummages through my folder of goodies::

Ah yes, whoever put this flyer together is NO friend of Nick Begich, that's for certain! First off, JIM MINNERY?

MINNERY?!

The executive director of the far-right grotesque Alaska Family Council who has had their paws on anything anti-LGBTQ in Anchorage? The same Jim Minnery who claimed he was a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) but was sent a cease and desist letter regarding his use of the CFRE certification?

A word to the wise...or in this case, the unwise - if you're trying to position yourself to the left of Sarah Palin, you may not want to tout a fundraiser hosted by Anchorage's biggest anti-LGBTQ demagogue AND you might want to rethink having a pig's ass hovering over what's supposed to be the main course!

This whole flyer...it's all...very unappetizing and in many respects, disturbing. 💩🤮 If I've said it once I've said it a THOUSAND times. When candidates tell you who they are...LISTEN.

Conservative turned right-wing radical Kathy Henslee is making a serious play for House District 13 where Rep. Andy Josephson is running. Henslee is one of the most extreme Alaska Republicans running this year and we need all hands on deck to ensure she loses...BIGLY!

Henslee, like Kelly Tshibaka, has been a member of the far-right Save Anchorage Facebook group since its inception. It's a group that saw many of its members celebrate the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and for Henslee, the group is likely a safe space for her given THIS answer to an Anchorage Daily News question about January 6.

But that's not all...just days after the attempted coup, candidate Henslee shared a supposed "first hand account" of the day to Facebook and suggested the media's reporting was not to be believed! It's a long post, but you literally can't make this 💩 up! ⬇️

Camouflaged in Trump gear? PAID DOMESTIC TERRORIST GROUPS? ANTIFA?! 10/10 yikes!

CLEARLY, this seat can't go to such an out-of-touch extreme candidate who proudly attended the Anchorage Trump rally and who thinks that Allen West is a good guy.

Follow Andy's campaign on Facebook and let's rally in support of the man who has been a leader on crime and public safety and who is a staunch public education advocate!

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that a certain former quitter Alaska governor also has some wild views about who was involved in the events of January 6...You betcha'!

Governor MAGA Mike Dunleavy came rushing to the defense of Donald Trump after the FBI conducted a search of his Mar-a-Lago residence on August 8th. In typical fashion, Dunleavy spewed the Trump line and railed against the FBI for actually, you know, doing its job!

This is the kind of social media post you get from elected officials when they have an emotional reaction to breaking news. Maybe, just maybe, Dunleavy should have waited for more details to come out about the FBI's search...like you know, the one's that revealed the FBI was looking for NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS at the home of the former president! Seriously, what is even going on?

Also jumping at the opportunity to rail against federal law enforcement was Sen. Dan Sullivan, who somehow saw fit to mention Hillary Clinton in his statement. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Sullivan said the FBI raid gave the appearance of the justice system being "weaponized" against the former president, which you know is just the kind of thing you want to say a day before those pesky NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS are reported on. 🙃

By the way, neither Dunleavy nor Sullivan have had much to say about the topic since the revelations about NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS came to light. ☢️

Their silence is deafening because, according to the New York Times, Trump ooonnnlllyyy took more than 700 pages of classified documents, including some related to the nation’s most covert intelligence operations, to his private club and residence in Florida when he left the White House in January 2021.

I wonder what the former guy was doing with all of those NUCLEAR DOCUMENTS? Weird!!

By the way, our next fundraiser will be held on ██ to support ███████! Join special guest @█████ at this special event!

🤡

Need to throw some love at Matt Claman this week. The election results are unofficial, but it appears he has beaten Republican Mia Costello in the Senate District H primary. Matt is in this race to win it but it's going to be a hard fought battle and needs your support to get across the finish line in November!

Andrew Gray and Donna Mears trekked down to check out the new downtown Anchorage mural and bumped into muralist Crystal Worl!

If you haven't seen the mural in all of its awesome glory, we aim to please ⬇️

The Victory Fund acknowledged Andrew Gray and Jennie Armstrong last week. Both will advance to the November ballot and stand poised to win their respective races.

We are not only proud to support these amazing candidates, but we stand with the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality, and are committed to electing candidates who will work to ensure that all Alaskans are treated with dignity and respect in their communities, their workplaces, and their schools! 🏳️‍🌈

We hit it out of the park!