Politics
How a Man Imprisoned in New York Could Sway a Key House Race in Alaska
Eric Hafner, who is serving a 20-year sentence, is running to represent a state in which he has never set foot. He could play the spoiler under Alaska’s ranked-choice system.
In the race for Alaska’s sole seat in the House of Representatives, candidates are defined by credentials specific to the state.
The Democratic incumbent, Mary Peltola, is an Alaska Native who grew up in a fishing family. Her Republican challenger, Nick Begich III, hails from an Anchorage political dynasty. John Wayne Howe, a third-party candidate, has mined for gold and battled a bear.
Then there is Inmate 00932-005, campaigning from the Otisville Federal Correctional Institution in New York, some 4,000 miles from Alaska. He is Eric Hafner, running in a state he has never set foot in and cannot visit soon.
Mr. Hafner, 33, is serving 20 years for threatening public officials in New Jersey, where he grew up. Now in his dubious quest to become one himself, he has emerged as an unlikely factor in the fight for control of Congress.
Mr. Hafner has been a fringe congressional candidate at least twice before: in Hawaii in 2016 as a Republican and in Oregon two years later as a Democrat. This year, his Alaska candidacy withstood Democratic challenges in two courts and has pundits discussing the national implications of his possibility tipping the race, which could be key to control of the House.
