JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Senate leaders on Tuesday urged Gov. Bill Walker to go back to the drawing board in seeking nominees for a vacant Senate seat if he could not support a candidate from the initial slate of finalists.

Walker on Friday appointed Randall Kowalke to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Mike Dunleavy of Wasilla. Dunleavy resigned last month to run for governor.

Kowalke, a member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, was among 11 applicants for the seat but he was not on the list of three finalists Republicans in that district sent to Walker for consideration.

When t...