It’s old news, perhaps, but still good news. Four years in, Alaska’s model top-four primaries and ranked choice general elections are the status quo. Everything that the election reform first brought to the state in 2022—from a respite for moderate lawmakers to the end of the dreaded spoiler effect—persisted into and beyond the 2024 elections.
Reform brought positive changes. They’ve stuck around.
Since Alaska debuted its upgraded electoral model in 2022, Sightline has tracked its achievements. Before, political parties controlled separate primary elections, dividing the electorate. Now, all voters can take part in primaries. In general elections, ranked choice voting lets a politically varied pool of people run for office without worrying about splitting votes with similar candidates. The process also makes it more likely that winning candidates have majority support.
Structural changes aside, is the Alaska model providing for Alaskans? Two cycles in is still early to definitively identify patterns, but five trends so far appear to be holding true.
1. Voters understand ranked choice voting and use it when it counts
Exit polling from Alaskans for Better Elections and FairVote in 2024 found that 84 percent of Alaskans find ranked choice voting “simple,” only one percentage point difference from a similar poll in 2022. And while a majority of 2024 voters opted not to rank candidates, those who needed to the most generally did so.1
In the presidential contest, for example, 78 percent of independent and minor party voters ranked their ballots. In the race for US House, supporters of the Alaska Independence Party’s John Wayne Howe put Republican Nick Begich over the top. Their preferred candidates may not have won, but independent and minor party voters had no reason to fear spoiling the election for their second favorite.
2. Elections are more competitive
With primaries open to all and spoilers no longer a concern, Alaska’s 2022 election saw a surge of candidates in the running. Though the average number of candidates per race dipped slightly in 2024 compared with 2022—in part due to second-, third-, or fourth-place Republicans clearing the field after the primary—state-level races remained more competitive than they were prior to reform.
3. Popular moderates are winning legislative seats
In both 2022 and 2024, influential moderate lawmakers won or held legislative seats that they might not have prior to reform. Senator Cathy Giessel, now the chamber’s majority leader, appealed to voters across the aisle to make a comeback in 2022. And Senator Jesse Bjorkman, now a member of the bipartisan Senate Majority Coalition, warded off more ideologically extreme candidates in both elections with second- or third-choice rankings from voters who preferred Democratic or independent candidates.
As Sightline previously reported, the cumulative impact of moderate victories is modest, and conservatives are by no means locked out of the running. In 2024, for example, conservative Republican Jubilee Underwood ousted controversial State Rep. David Eastman in House District 27. And in State Senate District N, Robert Yundt’s hardline conservative campaign won out in a three-way Republican contest. Unlike his predecessor, Coalition Republican Sen. David S. Wilson, Sen. Yundt chose to align with the Republican minority caucus.
In Alaska elections, what matters most is that a candidate has broad support in their district. Broader primaries and ranked votes simply allow voter preference to shine through.
4. Independents are breaking through
Alaska’s famous independent streak is finally reflected in the state legislature. With voters and office-seekers no longer concerned about splitting the vote, a record six independent and unaffiliated candidates won state house seats in the 2022 election. Their ranks shrank slightly after the 2024 election but remain higher than in the pre-reform era.2
5. Lawmakers are working across the aisle on issues that matter to Alaskans
The political landscape has shifted since the end of separate partisan primaries. Democratic and Republican legislators no longer live in fear of losing to a single extreme candidate and being shut out. So long as they have enough support to make it into the top four, they’re guaranteed a spot on the general election ballot. As such, lawmakers may feel liberated to vote more in the interest of their constituents, rather than their party.
Removing the weight of a primary threat might even improve government efficiency. In both the 2023 and 2025 legislative sessions, House lawmakers formed cross-partisan coalitions faster than they had prior to reform.3 Legislators also continued to skirt culture war debates and vote across party lines. Notably, minority caucus members banded with the majority to secure education funding with a historic veto override in 2025 and pass a years-in-the-making election reform bill in 2026.
A beacon for Americans elsewhere
A picture is coming into focus in Alaska: voters who can express nuanced opinions on their ballots, candidates with room to reach across party lines, and a legislature that is modestly more effective for having ideological diversity in its chambers.
There’s still more to come. The 2026 cycle will provide new data and stories showing how Alaskans have settled into their model elections. Voters and leaders beyond Alaska will surely be taking notes.
