Genuine question: With all of this talk about how Alaska loves incumbents, are there instances when it benefited a Democratic incumbent??
Well, you can't really have that discussion about Alaska Democrat Senators, since they haven't had one up for re-election since 1980. And Mike Gravel lost in the Democratic Primary. The guy that beat Gravel went on to lose the general election to Frank Murkowski.
The Senator before Grabel, Ernest Gruening, lost the Democratic nomination to Grabel in 1968.
The other Alaska Democrat, Bob Bartlet, died while in office and was replaced by Ted Stephens.
I guess those Democrats got two terms each, while the Murkowskis and Stephens held on to their seats forever. Stephens lost to Begich in 2008.
