JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) , An inmate in a federal prison in New York moved forward Wednesday from the primary for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat.
Eric Hafner, a registered Democrat, also sought the seat in 2024 and earned a place on the general election ballot that November in spite of a challenge from the Alaska Democratic Party.
Hafner entered a guilty plea in 2022 to charges of threatening police officers, judges and other individuals. His release date is set for 2036.
The front-runners in the contest are the sitting Republican, Rep. Nick Begich, and independent Bill Hill, who works as a commercial fisherman and previously worked as an educator.
Hafner’s advancement in the primary to the general election is virtually guaranteed to trigger another legal challenge, since the U.S. Constitution mandates that candidates reside in the state they intend to represent when the election takes place.
On the candidate paperwork he submitted to the state, he used the same Box Elder, South Dakota, mailing address and New York phone number as his mother, Carol Hafner. Neither appears to have any connections to Alaska.
Carol Hafner is also a former unsuccessful candidate and entered this year’s race as well, this time competing in the state’s U.S. Senate primary.
Alaska’s election rules send the top four primary finishers to the general election, no matter their party. Eric Hafner had pulled in 5,757 votes once 93% of ballots were tallied. That put him well behind the third-place contender, Democrat Matt Schultz. Schultz, however, dropped out of the general election and was not eligible to move forward.
The race for fourth place remained too close to call.