A fundraiser on Wednesday night at the Matanuska Brewing Company in Anchorage brought together the team of rivals that is the Alaska Republican Party.
“We are united by the platform and planks, and I am not here to pretend that we don’t have problems, but I’m here to tell you that we are going to work it out,” said Sen. Peter Micciche, who organized the fundraiser for the General Election Senate Republican candidates.
“I can guarantee you that the Senator Stedman’s district is very different than Sen. Shower’s,” Micciche said. “But if you’re going by the platform, we’ll work it out. We’re united on a spending limit and smaller, more efficient government, less redundant regulations, and a strong economy and jobs. We’re united by the need to protect the Permanent Fund. Our areas of disagreement have been clear, but with a majority of equals, we will be forced to spend many hours at table together as a team deciding what those solutions look like.”
The event brought in an average of $250 per donor, for a total of $30,000 raised from a lot of new participants — welders, accountants, police officers, and some folks from the Dunleavy Administration. The crowd was not the typical lobbyist gathering.
Micciche introduced all the candidates moving forward to the General Election. “The difference in this group represents the difference in Alaskans and how they feel about key issues. We’ll work through solutions, because we will be hearing equally from both sides.”
“Our goal is a majority of equals. Everyone needs to understand the difference in each of our districts, so we understand where each senator is coming from and so we can be respectful of those differences and still come together on solutions.” – Peter Micciche
Just three Republican senators were missing: Gary Stevens of Kodiak is not traveling due to the pandemic; Mia Costello of Anchorage is out of state on a long-planned trip; and Click Bishop is at his mine.
Among the speakers were Gov. Mike Dunleavy and former Rep. Ralph Samuels. They both stayed on the theme of uniting as a team. Also attending were some Republican House representatives, including David Eastman and Ben Carpenter, Alaska Republican Party Chairman Glenn Clary and former Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich.
The unity shown by so many Republican senators bodes well for the prospect of a Republican majority, possibly led by Micciche in January. But a couple of the seats are in marginal districts and none of the senators were overconfident about what the Senate majority will look like. No one will have that answer until Nov. 4 at the earliest.
