Democrats Campaigning Against Their Own Congressional Nominee Who Happens to Be in Federal Prison

Eric Hafner, 35, is running to strip Alaska’s lone House seat away from Republican incumbent Rep. Nicholas Begich. But can he win? After all, Hafner is the only Democrat on the ticket, and midterms historically punish the president’s party.

There’s just one problem: Eric Hafner is nearly 3,000 miles away from Juneau, serving out a 20-year prison sentence in Otisville, New York.

According to U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, Hafner repeatedly threatened elected representatives, judges, law enforcement officers, and private citizens.

“He further victimized these public officials, private citizens, and the public generally by calling in numerous false bomb threats to a courthouse, a police department, law firms, businesses, and an elected official’s office,” Sellinger said.

Reporting by The Blue Alaskan revealed that in 2016, Inmate #00932-005 told a police department that the officer who arrested him “deserves to get shot,” that he knew where the officer lived, and that the officer’s minor child would “get his head bashed in.”

Data from Ballotpedia suggests that just 3.8 percent of voters filled in the bubble next to this man’s name.

It is unclear whether these voters knew Hafner’s background. The ballot may have been a protest vote or a knee-jerk reaction to the “D” next to his name.

Regardless, Hafner poses a real danger to Bill Hill, the Democrat-backed independent seeking to unseat Begich.

Politico reported, “Hafner may be behind bars, but Dems fear he could lock up enough votes to help Begich hold his seat.”

To counter this, Wheel Dog, the D.C. Super PAC backing Hill, launched an ad highlighting Hafner’s unusual place of residence.

“The D by his name? Yeah, it stands for Doing Time,” the ad says.

The ad ends with a screen that reads “Alaska Democrats Vote Bill Hill.” Despite clear backing from a Democrat-funded Super PAC, Hill refuses to align himself with either party.

When Alaska’s News Source suggested that he would caucus for the Democrats, Hill responded, “I guess we’ll find out when the election comes.”

Also in the race is Libertarian Jim McDermott. Ballotpedia recorded that he received even fewer votes than Hafner.

At the end of the day, this race is about Hill and Begich.

Neither Hafner nor McDermott will likely win. However, because Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, they can seriously affect Hill’s chances of beating Begich.

According to Alaskans for Better Elections, “Ranked Choice Voting allows voters to rank candidates on the ballot in order of preference: first, second, third, and fourth.”

In this system, if a candidate gets over 50 percent of first-choice votes, they win immediately. Otherwise, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and those votes transfer to each voter’s next preference. This repeats until one candidate holds a majority.

This means second-place and third-place votes carry significant weight. If all Republicans mark Hafner as their second choice, transferred preferences could consolidate behind Begich instead of Hill.

With ranked-choice voting, Hafner may end up casting the deciding vote in an Alaska House race thousands of miles away.

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