Dustin is a good guy in many ways, so I don’t understand why Dustin keeps doing this. Breaks my heart. I also live in West Anchorage, and have seen the frustration in good candidates trying to win when Nial Sherwood Williams also has acted as spoiler. It takes the wind out of conservative candidates’ sails, and discourages their potential donors from donating.
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Because Darden doesn’t raise any money and never mounts a real campaign, he has a low ceiling of 12-15% at most. We’ve seen Darden play spoiler before, and in a tight West Anchorage race, he could again.
Dustin Darden, A Perennial Candidate, Could Play Spoiler in West Anchorage
Robert Hockema
On average, Darden wins around 6% of the total vote in any given election. …
Currently, Darden is running for the West Anchorage Assembly seat against Save Anchorage candidate Brian Flynn. …
Darden is what is called a “perennial candidate”: someone who keeps running for office but never comes anywhere close to winning. …
Darden claims to be a board member of 1776 Alaska, which is a Facebook page dedicated to conspiracy theories, and is routinely kicked out of Assembly meetings for refusing to end his time testifying or becoming too aggressive. …
A combined total of Darden’s non-statewide performances shows he gets an average of 5.5% of the vote in any given election. In municipal elections, he averages 5%; in state-level races, he averages 10.6%. …
..when Darden ran for State House District 22 in 2016 against Jason Grenn, an independent, and Republican incumbent Liz Vazquez. In this race, he ran as an Alaskan Independent. He took more votes from the Republican and helped split the vote for Grenn to win. …
Darden runs often enough that in some races, he has better name recognition than his challengers. …
Darden also does best in West Anchorage, where he has run most often. This aids the low-information voter turnout theory: Some of his best precincts are near his home in Jewel Lake, and exactly half of his runs for office have been from a Westside seat on the Assembly or State House. Darden’s name has been a staple on the ballot for more than a decade. …
Because Darden doesn’t raise any money and never mounts a real campaign, he has a low ceiling of 12-15% at most. We’ve seen Darden play spoiler before, and in a tight West Anchorage race, he could again.