Former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy, R-Wasilla, has won a straw poll of Republican candidates for governor.
The straw poll was conducted across two gubernatorial forums held Friday by the Juneau Republican Women and Capital City Republicans and offers a glimpse into Juneau’s support for the candidates in the August Republican primary.
Results of the unscientific poll were provided Sunday by Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the state Republican Party.
For governor, Dunleavy received 49 percent of the vote. Anchorage businessman Scott Hawkins was second with 34 percent of the vote, and sitting Rep. Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, earned 14 percent of the vote. Three percent of the votes were for write-in candidates, and Michael Sheldon of Petersburg received no votes.
For lieutenant governor, sitting Sen. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, was the clear front-runner with 66 percent of the vote. Former state Rep. Lynn Gattis of Wasilla was second with 19 percent of the vote. Retired Col. Edie Grunwald was third with 15 percent of the vote. Stephen Wright of Wasilla received no votes, and sitting Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, received no votes as well. Stevens is a candidate for lieutenant governor but did not attend Friday’s forums.
Sixty-six people attended the lunchtime forum; another 91 attended the dinner gathering in the Baranof Hotel. Attendees at each event were asked to name their choices for governor and lieutenant governor and put them on red slips of paper. Those slips of paper were collected and counted at the end of the meeting.
Each person in attendance at the event was given one slip; people who attended both events could thus cast two ballots. Many of the Legislature’s Republicans were present for one or both events, but it isn’t clear how many of them cast ballots in the straw poll.