ANCHORAGE - Two Republican state senators lost their seats in Tuesday night's primary election.
That could mean the bipartisan coalition they've been a part of could unravel.
Meanwhile, a Democrat in the coalition has a slim lead over her challenger, pending the counting of absentee ballots.
Senator Linda Menard, of Wasilla, lost her bid for a second term to school board President Mike Dunleavy by a wide margin.
Meanwhile, Soldotna Mayor Peter Micciche defeated 10-year Senator Tom Wagoner of Kenai.
They have been among the six Republicans that joined with 10 Democrats to run the Senate.
Senator Bettye Davis, one of the Democrats in the coalition, has a lead of 75 votes over Harry Crawford, who is a former representative.
"I'm not really declaring victory," Davis said. "What I'm saying, I'm leaving here with the most votes. But it's hard to say how it's going to turn out because there are votes to be counted."
Crawford argued during the campaign that he would be the stronger candidate to take on Republican Representative Anna Fairclough of Eagle River.
He said if he loses he would work to help Davis win in November. "She's got a long storied history. She's done good for many years for the people of East Anchorage. And now I hope she can pull it off in Eagle River, as well."
Meanwhile, Ballot Measure 2 didn't do well.
That is the citizen’s initiative to restore a coastal zone management program.
The No On 2 camp notably included oil companies that spent more than a million dollars on the ad campaign.
The ads arguably worked -- about 62 percent of voters opposed the initiative.
But both sides agree that the issue is not dead.
The previous coastal management program expired last year as the result of a legislative deadlock.
It could be back at the capitol again.
"I just think, you know, you have to be willing to compromise," said House Speaker Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski), who opposed the initiative. "You know, each time a bill's introduced -- I always think that every bill that I introduce is a great bill and is perfect and it doesn't need to be fixed. But through the legislative process, it looks at all the issues and maybe it does find some mistakes added into a bill that need to be addressed."
The Alaska Sea Party - which sponsored the initiative - said that oil, gas and mining companies should be compelled by their own rhetoric to come to the table in next year's legislative session.
Spokeswoman Terzah Tippin Poe said: "All through the debates, and all through this in the last couple months, what I kept hearing as the co-chair of the Yes on 2, the Alaska Sea Party, I was at these debates, I kept hearing from outside industry that they were for coastal management, just not this version. Well, if this goes down, and let's assume it does, I expect them to come to the table and work with Alaska to restore coastal management."
Poe said that getting nearly 40 percent of the vote, even after being outspent 10-to-1, shows a coastal management program is needed.
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