The sign for Alaska's delegation to the Republican National Convention is seen on July 17, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)
On the national political scene Alaska is regarded as bright red, but a closer examination would change that view.
Take, for instance, the political composition of the Legislature . The Senate has a supermajority caucus that includes almost equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. The House is composed of equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats, and the resulting majority caucus included three Democrats. (The number of Democrats includes independents who in my view really are Democrats.)
Then there’s the Alaska Constitution. Past legislatures tried numerous times to ban or curtail abortions, but the courts quashed every effort, citing the right to privacy in the constitution.
The constitution also created a unique method of selecting judges where the governor must select judges from a list provided by the Alaska Judicial Council, which is composed by three members appointed by the Alaska Bar Association, three non-attorneys appointed by the governor and the chief justice of the Supreme Court, who is the chair. This method infuriated Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who tried to demand for inclusion of more conservative candidates, but he lost.
The transition of Anchorage from being a Republican stronghold into a centrist political community is a sign that Alaska is more moderate than the view from afar. The mayor is left of the center as is a strong majority of the Assembly. The city’s legislative delegation is composed of 10 Republicans and 14 Democrats/independents.
The Alaska congressional delegation includes one Democrat and two Republicans, one of which is considered maybe the first to break party demands. Sen. Murkowski was once reelected by a write-in vote, only the second senator to do so in U.S. history.
This fiasco helped citizens to enact rank choice voting (RCV) that enabled Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, to become the state’s first Alaska Native in the U.S. Congress. The future of RCV may be on this fall’s ballot, depending upon the result of an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.
When I was a cub reporter in the mid-1970s, the House was dominated by Democrats and the Senate was closely divided. The governor, Jay Hammond, was a RINO (Republican in name only). Hammond, who may be regarded as the state’s most popular governor ever, was despised by the Republican Party.
The surge in population and billions of dollars flowing into the state treasury after development of the trans-Alaska pipeline changed the political scene. The number of Republicans increased, and the Legislature became very conservative.
Alaska now is slowly moving to the middle. Once Gov. Dunleavy terms out or joins Trump’s team if he wins in November, maybe Alaska will be viewed as purple.
Rodger Painter can trace his Alaska roots to 1798 when an Alutiiq woman married a Russian trader. He is a former reporter, legislative aide and was active in Alaska seafood politics for decades. He now is retired and lives in Douglas.
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