A cloud-covered Mount Wrangell is in the distance in a view south from the Tok Cut-Off on April 27, 2022. The area is part of Alaska House District 36, the largest state House district in the U.S. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/Alaska Beacon)
When Republican Rep. Mike Cronk of Tok suddenly became a Senate candidate earlier this year, it set off a scramble.
His decision to seek Fairbanks Republican Sen. Click Bishop’s seat meant there was no longer an incumbent representative in America’s geographically largest state House district. Six candidates, acting on short notice, signed up to fill the gap.
On Aug. 20, the state primary election will winnow those six options to four.
Before then, four Republicans, one Democrat and one Libertarian are traveling from Delta Junction to Fairbanks, Fort Yukon and beyond, trying to make their case to voters in a Republican-leaning rural district.
Cole Snodgress, a gold miner running as a Republican, has traveled more than 2,700 miles by road and another 250 by air while campaigning since June 1.