Alaska Democrats spent the weekend in Anchorage picking delegates for the party’s national convention in Philadelphia this July, and setting priorities for the year ahead.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has 13 pledged delegates from Alaska while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received three. Alaska’s four superdelegates do not have to announce whom they support ahead of the national convention.
Sanders Campaign Director Jill Yordy was elected to be a national delegate and says those picked will staunchly stick to Sanders going into the contested national convention.
“I’m going to stand with Bernie the whole time,” Yordy said. “I cannot imagine myself flipping at all, at any point.”
Of the 523 delegates who came to UAA campus for the convention, 97 supported Clinton. Darrian Traw, 18, is sticking with Clinton because of her focus on gender and ethnicity in policymaking. And even though she isn’t in the majority at the convention, Traw says the weekend’s overall passion is still exciting.
“This is really fun for me. I thrive on frustration. But I like using the frustration from these kinds of events and using it to energize myself,” Traw said.
Besides delegate selection, the convention is when Democrats from all across the state come together to strategize and set a party platform. Many see the Sanders campaign as bringing more progressive policies into the state party’s agenda. Agatha Erickson is a Sanders delegate from Anchorage and says this year Alaska’s Democrats drafted the most progressive platform she’s seen, which will be brought to the national convention in a few weeks.
“Maybe the math is against us, but we also have a chance to change what the party focuses on,” Erickson said. “And this is not the end of the road for us … we have a movement here where we can make income inequality, Native issues, social issues part of the core foundation of the national democratic party.”
Attendees also elected party leaders. Anchorage’s Sheila Selkregg is the new national chairwoman for Alaska. She hadn’t planned on running for the position until the night before but thinks Alaska and the country are at a crucial moment for pushing progressive policies to the forefront.
“I think Alaska could flip,” Selkregg said. “I think that we’ve been kind of held hostage to politics that were born in Texas, and it’s becoming more and more obvious. And that we’re going to go back to politics that were born in the values of Alaskans.”
Though Selkregg is supporting Sanders, she says that like many Alaska Democrats she’ll back either of the party’s candidates over the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
Delegate names and house districts:
Superdelegates
Casey Steinau
Larry Murakami
Ian Olson
Kim Metcalfe
Fairbanks/Interior
Mikki King Barker – Pledged: Sanders – HD 6
Olivia Garrett – Pledged: Sanders – HD 4
Edward Alexander – Pledged: Sanders – HD 6
Jill Yordy – PLEO (Party Leader/Elected Official): Sanders – HD 4
Mat-Su/Anchorage/Kenai
Traci George – Pledged: Sanders – HD 13
Gregory Jones – Pledged: Sanders – HD 8
Nathan Sidell – Pledged: Sanders – HD 11
George Wesley Sookiayak – Pledged: Sanders – HD 25
Andy Josephson – Pledged: Clinton – HD 17
TK Kleiner – Pledged: Clinton – HD 26
Taz Tally – PLEO: Sanders – HD 31
Genevive Mina – Pledged: Sanders – HD 19
Diana Carbonell – Pledged: Sanders – HD 31
James Smallwood – Pledged: Clinton – HD 19
Southeast
Gavin Hudson – Alternate: Sanders – HD 36
Western
Katrina Domnick – Pledged: Sanders – HD 38
Peter Andrew – Pledged: Sanders – HD 37
Charles Degnan – Alternate: Clinton – HD 39
