Edgar Blatchford, who was elected as mayor of Seward and also once served as commissioner of the Department of Community and and Regional Affairs in the 1990s, has filed for U.S. Senate as a Democrat.
Before 2016, Blatchford was a Republican, but he has been an active Democrat since 2016, when he first filed for the office of U.S. Senate, losing in the primary to Ray Metcalfe. In 2018, he filed to run for lieutenant governor in the 2018 Democratic primary, but dropped out of the race on June 8.
He has a bachelors degree from Alaska Pacific University, a law degree from University of Washington, a masters degree from Columbia University, and a masters of public administration from Harvard University. On top of that, he has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska, where he has taught journalism.
Blatchford also served in the administration of Gov. Frank Murkowski as commissioner of Community and Economic Development. He was mayor of Seward from 1999 to 2003. An Inupiaq, Blatchford was born in Nome and now lives in Anchorage.
Back in the 1980s, Blatchford founded the publishing company Alaska Newspapers Inc. and has been a professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage since 1995.
Last month another Democrat filed for U.S. Senate: Pat Chesbro, an Alaska Democratic Party officer from Wasilla.
Blatchford would peel away votes from both Sen. Lisa Murkowski, and Chesbro, if he makes it past the open primary in August and into the final four in the general election.
So far, the two big campaign for U.S. Senate are Murkowski and Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who is more conservative than Murkowski. There are 21 people filed for the office, which comes up for election every six years.
