Governor Walker is suspending his race for Governor. pic.twitter.com/mYu19sEiUj

— Joe Vigil (@JoeVigil) October 19, 2018

First, the lieutenant governor resigns and now this.

One thing about Alaska politics, it is never boring. 

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) suspended his re-election campaign on Friday.

Walker, an independent, first announced the news at an Alaska Federation of Natives conference and elaborated on his decision in an Instagram post.

“Every decision I have made as your governor, I have made on the basis of what I believe is best for Alaska. With that said, effective today, I am suspending my campaign for re-election as Governor,” Walker wrote in the post.

“With more time, I am confident that [Lieutenant Gov. Valerie Davidson] and I could deliver a message and a campaign that could earn a victory in this election. But there are only 18 days remaining before election day. … In the time remaining, I believe we cannot win a three-way race.”

Walker’s departure sets up a tight competition between former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy (R) and former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich (D).

Walker endorsed Begich in his Instagram post, noting that Dunleavy has been critical of the expansion of Medicaid. Walker had been touting the Medicaid expansion in his state as a major accomplishment of his administration.

I’m not going to lie, this took me by surprise. 

There are a couple of conspiracy theories going around, but what seems most likely is that Walker saw the writing on the wall, knew he was not going to win, and decided that Mark Begich has a better shot at beating Donleavy without him on the ballot. 

I had already decided to vote for Begich, so this does not change my vote, but it definitely gives me even more respect for Governor Walker.