Photographer: McKibben Jackinsky, Homer News Audrey Rearden, aunt of Alaska's First Dude Todod Palin, and Rep. Paul Seaton encourage others to get out and vote Tuesday.

"The absentees haven't been counted, but it looks like a pretty significant victory," said Seaton from Anchorage, where he is planning to attend House majority meetings over the next few days.

Seaton said Alderfer ran a clean campaign and was a worthy opponent.

"I appreciated the way he ran his campaign. I look forward to working with him in the future and I wish him the best of luck in the real estate business," he said. "There really weren't issues that he and I had a lot of disagreement on, so it was mainly about the person doing the job."

Heading into Election Day, Seaton feared the political corruption scandal that burst into public view two years ago and has sent three of his ex-colleagues to prison might negatively affect the outcome for all Republican legislators.

"It kind of taints everybody," said Seaton. "You worry that the public won't discriminate between the people that are acting properly and those who aren't. Obviously, the people recognized the difference in this election."

Alderfer, a Homer realtor running his first-ever political campaign, congratulated Seaton on his victory.

"I wish him the best and I look forward to seeing what he does in Juneau the next two years," he said.

The race was tough and took more of his personal time than he expected, said Alderfer, but he enjoyed campaigning and might consider another run for office in the future.

"You never lose by trying," he said. "Abraham Lincoln ran five times before he won a seat in the Illinois senate. We took a good first step here and established a good ground game from another run."

Alderfer was campaigning right up to the last minute, knocking on doors in Homer neighborhoods at 7 p.m. on election night. His "get out the vote" campaign started last Thursday, he said, when he and his team of volunteers began making calls to identify early voters. Alderfer volunteers led by campaign manager Ingrid Harrald and operating out of the Alaska Democratic Party's Homer office, made more than 2,000 such calls Monday and another 2,000 Tuesday. In addition to the phone calls, Alderfer had nine groups of canvassers knocking on doors Monday and Tuesday.

"We've had a local focus from the very beginning," he said. "Since late June, I've tried to canvass three days a week and make phone calls another two days a week."

Alderfer said he spent between $25,000 and $30,000 on his campaign, mostly on yard signs and campaign mailings.

"This is not a district you can just saturate with media," he said. "It's still very old-fashioned in that you need boots on the ground."

Seaton said he spent about $30,000 on his campaign, on signs, mailings and newspaper and radio advertisements.

Looking forward to this week's House majority meetings, Seaton said he would angle for a committee chairmanship this year. He currently sits on the Health, Education and Social Services committee and is the vice chair of the Resources committee.

"The committee chairs are picked first. I presume that I'll get a chairmanship, but we'll just have to see how that goes," he said.

His top priority in the upcoming legislative session will be energy production, particularly the development of Alaska's renewable energy potential, he said.

"I'll also be introducing some issues of environmental concern, such as mining tax reform and mixing zone legislation," said Seaton.

Aaron Selbig can be reached at aaron.selbig@homernews.com.