{"id":2680718,"date":"2026-10-10T13:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T17:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-campaigning-against-their-own-congressional-nominee-who-happens-to-be-in-federal-prison\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T13:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T17:56:14","slug":"democrats-campaigning-against-their-own-congressional-nominee-who-happens-to-be-in-federal-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-campaigning-against-their-own-congressional-nominee-who-happens-to-be-in-federal-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrats Campaigning Against Their Own Congressional Nominee Who Happens to Be in Federal Prison"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdemocrats-campaigning-against-their-own-congressional-nominee-who-happens-to-be-in-federal-prison%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2680718&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Eric Hafner, a 35-year-old candidate running too unseat Alaska\u2019s incumbent Rep. Nicholas Begich,faces a significant obstacle: he is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in New york for threatening public officials and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fbi-investigating-bomb-threats-against-every-school-in-maryland-airports-and-synagogues-in-other-states\/\" title=\"FBI probes bomb threats targeting Maryland schools, airports, and synagogues in other states\">making false bomb threats<\/a>. Despite his incarceration, Hafner is attempting to participate in the upcoming election, and his name appears on the ballot. His background has raised concerns that he could influence the race, especially as Alaska employs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/andrew-yang-has-commanding-lead-in-nyc-mayoral-race-poll-shows\/\" title=\"Andrew Yang Has Commanding Le... In NYC Mayoral ..., Poll Shows\">ranked-choice voting<\/a>, where multiple candidate preferences can affect the outcome. A super PAC supporting his opponent, Bill Hill, has launched an ad highlighting Hafner\u2019s incarceration and background to sway voters. Even though Hafner received only a small percentage of votes, his candidacy could impact the overall result by drawing votes away from other candidates, potentially helping Begich or Hill depending on voter preferences. The race ultimately centers on Hill and Begich, wiht third-party and incarcerated candidates having the potential to shape the outcome due to Alaska\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/glenn-youngkin-wins-gop-nomination-for-governor-of-virginia\/\" title=\"Glenn Youngkin ...s GOP Nomination For Governor Of Virginia\">ranked-choice voting system<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Eric Hafner, 35, is running to strip Alaska\u2019s 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\u2019s party.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s just one problem: Eric Hafner is nearly 3,000 miles away from Juneau, serving out a 20-year prison sentence in Otisville, New York.<\/p>\n<p>According to U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger, Hafner repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-nj\/pr\/monmouth-county-man-sentenced-20-years-prison-making-threatening-communications-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">threatened<\/a> elected representatives, judges, law enforcement officers, and private citizens.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe 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\u2019s office,\u201d Sellinger said.<\/p>\n<p>Reporting by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebluealaskan.com\/inmate-00932-005-wants-your-vote-in-november-or-else\/#:~:text=He's%20run%20for%20public%20office%20in%20Hawaii%2C,to%20you%3A%20Eric%20Hafner%20(aka%20Inmate%20%2300932%2D005).\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Blue Alaskan<\/a> revealed that in 2016, Inmate #00932-005 told a police department that the officer who arrested him \u201cdeserves to get shot,\u201d that he knew where the officer lived, and that the officer\u2019s minor child would \u201cget his head bashed in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Data from <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Eric_Hafner\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ballotpedia<\/a> suggests that just 3.8 percent of voters filled in the bubble next to this man\u2019s name.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear whether these voters knew Hafner\u2019s background. The ballot may have been a protest vote or a knee-jerk reaction to the \u201cD\u201d next to his name.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless, Hafner poses a real danger to Bill Hill, the Democrat-backed independent seeking to unseat Begich.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/playbook\/2026\/10\/09\/the-battle-for-black-voters-01113316\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Politico<\/a> reported, \u201cHafner may be behind bars, but Dems fear he could lock up enough votes to help Begich hold his seat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To counter this, <a href=\"https:\/\/wheeldogpac.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wheel Dog<\/a>, the D.C. Super PAC backing Hill, launched an ad highlighting Hafner\u2019s unusual place of residence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe D by his name? Yeah, it stands for Doing Time,\u201d the ad says.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Doing Time\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uT5abzEgGGc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The ad ends with a screen that reads \u201cAlaska Democrats Vote Bill Hill.\u201d Despite clear backing from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/data\/receipts\/?committee_id=C00944389&#038;two_year_transaction_period=2026&#038;data_type=processed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Democrat-funded<\/a> Super PAC, Hill refuses to align himself with either party.<\/p>\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaskasnewssource.com\/2026\/06\/17\/guess-well-find-out-hill-wont-say-if-hell-caucus-with-democrats-challenge-against-rep-nick-begich\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alaska\u2019s News Source<\/a> suggested that he would caucus for the Democrats, Hill responded,\u00a0\u201cI guess we\u2019ll find out when the election comes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Also in the race is Libertarian Jim McDermott. <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Jim_McDermott_(Alaska)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ballotpedia<\/a> recorded that he received even fewer votes than Hafner.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, this race is about Hill and Begich.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Hafner nor McDermott will likely win. However, because Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, they can seriously affect Hill\u2019s chances of beating Begich.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.alaskansforbetterelections.com\/learn-more\/ranked-choice-voting\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alaskans for Better Elections<\/a>, \u201cRanked Choice Voting allows voters to rank candidates on the ballot in order of preference: first, second, third, and fourth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019s next preference. This repeats until one candidate holds a majority.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>With ranked-choice voting, Hafner may end up casting the deciding vote in an Alaska House race thousands of miles away.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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Begich but faces challenges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2680719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-10-10T001633.500.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[36274,3685,5894],"class_list":["post-2680718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-congressional-race","tag-democrats","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-10-10T001633.500.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2680718"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2680722,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680718\/revisions\/2680722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2680719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2680718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2680718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2680718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}