Incumbent state legislators come out on top in primary

Wrangell’s two state legislators both received more votes than their challengers in last week’s primary election.

With only two candidates in each race, the Aug. 16 primary was a preview of the Nov. 8 general election, when voters again will choose between the same two candidates for the House and Senate seats.

Under Alaska’s new elections system, the top vote-getters in the primary, regardless of political party, advance to the general election.

Republican Sen. Bert Stedman, of Sitka, in his 19th year in the Legislature, outpolled his Republican challenger Mike Sheldon, of Petersburg, for the...