4 Special Coverage

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski isn’t ruling out running for governor.

When asked by a reporter Monday afternoon if she had considered adding her name to a long list of Republican candidates for the seat next year, she gave a short reply.

“Sure,” she said. “Lots of Republicans have.”

Associated Press reporter Becky Bohrer later asked Murkowski if she was being sincere.

“Was that a flippant response or a serious response?” Bohrer asked. “Is that something that you’re seriously considering at this time?”

“Well it was a little bit flippant, I have to admit,” Murkowski said laughing, “because everybody asks me about it. So you know when you’re asked, you’re like, ‘I don’t know. I was thinking about it.'”

Murkowski spoke during a wide-ranging, nearly 90-minute sit-down with reporters in her Anchorage office. Other topics included her displeasure with reductions in staffing for the National Weather Service, the delay in getting judicial nominees confirmed for Alaska’s U.S. District Court vacancies and the zeroing out of funding for the Denali Commission. She also defended her vote on President Trump’s reconciliation bill, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, and the carveouts she secured for rural health care.

“I did everything within my power as one lawmaker from Alaska to try to make sure that the most vulnerable in our state would not be negatively impacted,” Murkowski said. “And I had a hard choice to make, and I think I made the right choice for Alaskans.”

Alaska Survey Research released a poll Monday that showed Murkowski’s favorability with progressives and moderates had plummeted after she voted for the president’s bill. Both of those blocs of voters helped her get re-elected in 2022. Murkowski said the bill would have passed without her support.

“What I’m trying to do is not win elections,” Murkowski said. “I am just trying to do the best that I can for Alaskans.”

Murkowski has served as one of Alaska’s two U.S. senators since 2002, when her father Frank Murkowski appointed her to his seat following his successful bid for governor. She did not commit to a re-election bid for her Senate seat either on Monday, saying the election is years away. She’s not up for re-election until 2028.

Monday was the first chance for residents to testify to the Juneau Assembly about whether to implement a ranked choice voting system for local elections. 

A spokesperson for the Alaska Division of Elections says it is not aware of any cities in Alaska that have adopted ranked choice voting for municipal elections. If approved, Juneau could become the first.

Alaska uses a ranked choice voting system for statewide elections. Voters approved it in 2020 and used it for the first time in 2022. The system allows voters to rank candidates by preference in open primaries, rather than partisan primaries. 

Supporters of the system say it helps reduce political polarization and fosters bipartisanship. Opposition predominantly comes from Alaska conservatives, who argue it makes voting unnecessarily complicated. Alaska is one of only two states that use ranked choice voting. Ten Republican-led states have banned it.

Assembly member Ella Adkison proposed an ordinance to adopt the system locally earlier this summer. She said the change will help build community consensus. 

But some testifiers at the meeting disagreed, like Angela Rodell. She unsuccessfully ran for mayor last election and questioned why the change is necessary.

“At a time when public trust in our local election process is being tested, this ordinance does not move us towards greater transparency, confidence or affordability,” she said. “Instead, it is the opposite. It proposes a fundamental change to our voting process without first answering a critical question, ‘What is the problem we’re trying to solve with this?’”

According to data from the state’s Division of Elections, Juneau voters appear to support ranked choice voting. The capital city overwhelmingly voted against an effort to repeal the statewide system last election, which only very narrowly failed statewide. Advocates are already attempting to repeal it in the 2026 state election.

Downtown resident Catherine Reardon said she thinks it makes sense for Juneau. 

“I think that it’s very appropriate, given the nonpartisan nature of our municipal government system,” she said. “I think it encourages candidates to work constructively together, although they are opponents, which is essential for a smooth operation of our local government.”

It’s too late for the system to be used in this October’s municipal election, but it could be implemented in time for next year. Residents will have another chance to testify on the proposed ordinance before the Assembly votes at its next regular meeting on Aug. 18. 

The Juneau Assembly narrowly voted against putting two bond questions on this fall’s municipal ballot at a meeting on Monday. 

The bonds would have helped fund critical repairs and upgrades to Juneau’s schools and the city’s water and sewer systems. Officials say the updates are sorely needed. 

Assembly member Christine Woll said she wanted to wait to ask the question until a later election because of how crowded the ballot is already. She said she’s also worried about adding to the city’s debt at a time of potential budget uncertainty.

“We will need to fund these at some point in the near future, I would ask that we hold off until next year, given what we have on the ballot,” she said. 

Two citizen initiatives on the ballot seek to remove local sales tax on food and utilities and limit the city’s property tax rate. If passed by voters, both are projected to leave multimillion-dollar holes in the city’s budget. 

In preparation, the city recently notified local organizations that receive city grants – including KTOO – that it would be withholding a portion of their funding until the election due to “the potential of significant revenue loss” if the citizen initiatives pass.

Assembly member Maureen Hall said she wanted to put the school bond question on the ballot because of the potential for state assistance to pay down the debt. 

“We should take advantage of this opportunity,” she said. “I don’t think this is confusing to the voters. We all know what’s been happening to school funding lately.”

Despite voting down the school bond ordinance, the Assembly did move forward with a plan to fund the fencing and site preparation for a playground at Juneau’s Dzantik’i Heeni campus through general funds. It was originally intended to be funded through the bond measure. Members will still need to vote to approve that funding before that work can begin. 

Juneau voters will decide whether the city should implement a new seasonal sales tax system. The Juneau Assembly approved the ballot question at a meeting Monday night. 

The city wants to take greater advantage of the 1.7 million cruise ship visitors that come to town every summer by increasing the local tax in those months. 

But, a handful of testifiers at the meeting, like Auke Bay resident Tom Williams, argued it’s not a good deal for year-round residents. 

“I have a question for you — what in the world are you doing?” he said. “I think you need to get back and start to go back and figure out who you work for, because all you’re doing with this seasonal sales tax approach is squeezing a balloon.”

Assembly members say the change is meant to capitalize on cruise ship tourism spending. Right now, Juneau has a fixed 5% local sales tax rate. It’s made up of both permanent and temporary taxes that help pay for general government costs, some specific voter-approved projects and community priorities like child care support. 

The proposed seasonal sales tax system would change that. It would bump the rate up to a 7.5% tax from April through September and then drop it down to a 3% tax from October through March. 

Nearby Southeast Alaska tourism towns like Ketchikan, Sitka and Skagway have already adopted similar seasonal tax structures. Deputy Mayor Greg Smith said he thinks Juneau would benefit by doing the same. 

“When we talked about doing this in December, it was to hopefully help people see and feel that ‘I’m going to be paying less in taxes, and my family will benefit due to tourism,’” he said. “A seasonal sales tax does that.”

Earlier this summer, Assembly members removed a part of the original proposal that would have used the additional revenue from the new system to offset the cost of removing local sales tax on food and utilities. That’s because an advocacy group called the Affordable Juneau Coalition gathered enough signatures this spring to put that question on the ballot already.

The coalition also got enough signatures for a ballot question asking whether to place a limit on the city’s property tax rate.

Angela Rodell, a member of the group, testified against the seasonal tax proposal on Monday. She argued it would financially hurt residents more than it would benefit them. 

“At a time when many in our community are already struggling with the rising cost of living, housing, food, childcare, and utilities, substantially increasing the sales tax for six months over the summer is not only ill-timed, it is fundamentally unaffordable for working families and individuals on fixed incomes,” she said. 

Assembly member Wade Bryson said the seasonal structure is needed to help recoup the estimated $9 million loss in annual sales tax revenue the city could face if sales tax is removed on food and utilities, which would happen if voters approve the measure. 

“Allowing the citizens to answer the questions at the same time gives the citizens — gives all the voters — a chance to say ‘yes or no,’ if they want a giant hole in the budget. Do they want all of our social services to go away?” he said. 

The city recently notified local organizations that receive city grants that it would be withholding a portion of their funding until the election due to “the potential of significant revenue loss” if the citizen initiatives pass. 

Those organizations include the Juneau Community Foundation, Juneau Arts and Humanities Council and KTOO. 

Voting in this year’s by-mail municipal election ends Oct. 7. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters beginning Sept.19.

There is a small pool of candidates running for the open Juneau Assembly and Board of Education seats in this fall’s local election. 

The candidate filing period closed on Monday. Half a dozen seats are open for the Oct. 7 municipal election — three on the Juneau Assembly and three on the Juneau School District Board of Education. 

Incumbent Assembly members Greg Smith and Ella Adkison are running uncontested for their seats. Assembly member Wade Bryson faces one other candidate, Nano Brooks, who unsuccessfully ran for an Assembly seat in the last two elections.

At an Assembly meeting on Monday, Bryson said he is excited to face some competition. 

I’m quite proud of all of my work that I’ve done here on the Assembly, so I look forward to being able to showcase that as we move some of the city topics forward,” he said. 

Both Smith and Bryson are finishing up their second full, three-year terms. Adkison is finishing her first partial term after she was elected in 2023 to serve the remaining two years in the term of Assembly member Carole Triem, who resigned. 

At the meeting, Adkison said she suspects that state and federal issues might be pulling people’s attention away from local politics. 

“It definitely does surprise me — I fully expected to have an opponent,” she said. “I think obviously when more people run, it’s a sign of a healthy local municipal democracy. But I think right now, frankly, there’s a lot of stuff going on.”

Four people are running for two full-term seats and one partial-term seat on the Juneau school board this election. The candidates are Jeremy Johnson, Jenny Thomas, Melissa Cullum and Steve Whitney. 

Thomas unsuccessfully ran for a seat last election and led a recall effort of the board’s president and vice president. She and Cullum were outspoken critics of the board’s decision to consolidate Juneau’s high schools and middle schools. 

Board president Deedie Sorensen and member Emil Mackey currently fill the open full-term seats. Both members told KTOO last week that they would not be running for reelection. 

The winner of the partial-term school board seat will complete the remaining two years of former member Will Muldoon’s term. He abruptly resigned this spring. Whitney was elected by the board to fill Muldoon’s position until voters elect a new, full-time member. 

Voting in this year’s by-mail election ends on Tuesday, Oct. 7. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters beginning on Sept. 19.

Last year, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled in a 4-1 decision that Eric Hafner, an imprisoned felon in New York state, could remain on Alaska’s U.S. House ballot despite a lawsuit challenging his eligibility.

On Friday, the court issued a 22-page opinion explaining that its decision came down to the definition of the word “fifth.”

When Alaskans approved 2020’s Ballot Measure 2, they installed an open primary election and a ranked choice general election. The top four vote-getters in the primary election, regardless of party, advance to the general election.

If one of those top four candidates withdraws after the primary, a section of that ballot measure says that the Alaska Division of Elections should replace the withdrawn candidate “with the candidate who received the fifth most votes in the primary election.”

But in 2024, two Republican candidates withdrew after the primary, seeking to consolidate support behind fellow Republican Nick Begich III, the eventual winner.

That meant the sixth-place candidate, Democrat Eric Hafner, was promoted to the top-four general election.

Hafner had never lived in Alaska at the time of his candidacy and, if elected, would have been ineligible to serve in office because he was not a resident of the state at the time of his election, something required by the U.S. Constitution.

Alaska Democrats, fearing a split vote between then-incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola and Hafner, sued, arguing that the ballot measure allowed the Division of Elections to promote the fifth finisher to the top four, but not anything beyond that.

The Division of Elections and the Alaska Republican Party disputed that interpretation. An Anchorage Superior Court judge and the Supreme Court sided with the division, preserving Hafner’s candidacy.

In the end, it didn’t matter — Peltola lost to Begich by a margin that was wider than the number of votes Hafner received. Even if every Hafner voter had gone with Peltola, she still would have lost.

Writing after that result, four of the Supreme Court’s justices concluded that the plain language of the Ballot Measure 2 law “is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation” and is “ambiguous” about what happens if more than one winning candidate withdraws after the primary.

Given that, the justices relied on logic, prior case law and their view of voters’ intent when Alaskans approved Ballot Measure 2 in 2020.

Historically, the justices noted, they have issued orders that favor candidates’ access to the ballot.

Additionally, the language and context of Ballot Measure 2 support the idea that voters wanted to have four options in the general election.

“The language and purpose of Ballot Measure 2 favor the division’s interpretation: Allowing successive replacements aligns with the ballot measure’s goal of furnishing greater candidate choices for voters,” wrote Justice Jude Pate, an appointee of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, for the majority.

Under the Alaska Democratic Party’s interpretation of the law, the justices wrote, there could be a situation where three candidates withdraw after the primary election, leaving the remaining candidate unopposed in the general election, even if there were more candidates in the primary.

“We doubt that voters and the drafters would have intended such results,” Pate wrote of that hypothetical.

Writing in dissent was Justice Susan Carney, who said that the other four justices were wrong and that the plain language of the law is clear.

“It is hard for me to imagine plainer language than this statute uses to describe the candidate who will fill a vacancy on the general election ballot,” she wrote.

Carney wrote that “Ballot Measure 2 greatly increased Alaskans’ choices for representation” but that the plain meaning of “fifth” is clear and unambiguous.

Because of that fact, “the lengths to which the court has reached to conclude otherwise are unnecessary and unreasonable.”