Alaska orthopedic surgeon Al Gross, MD, has left the state's U.S. House race spinning after the third-place candidate withdrew from the special and general elections.
"It is just too hard to run as a nonpartisan candidate in this race," Dr. Gross said in a June 21 statement on his website. "Right now, our country is broken — inflation is out of control and partisan gridlock and grandstanding keeps decisive action at a standstill."
Dr. Gross placed third after the June 11 special primary election with 48 candidates and was set to progress to the ranked choice election in August with three other candidates, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Alaska law has a measure to replace a withdrawn candidate with the fifth-place finisher, but Dr. Gross' decision to drop out came too late for that law to apply, according to CNN.