Breaking: Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom launches campaign for Congress

By
Suzanne Downing
-
130

Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom is running for Congress in the 2024 election. Her campaign website went live at this link.

A conservative Republican, Dahlstrom is in her second year as lieutenant governor after serving as Department of Corrections commissioner for four years under Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

Dahlstrom believes she has what it takes to beat incumbent Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, who won election to Alaska’s only seat in Congress after the death of Congressman Don Young.

There is another Republican already in the race — conservative Nick Begich, who filed for office in mid-July, after placing third to Peltola and former Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2022 election.

Dahlstrom said she will remain serving as lieutenant governor while she is running for Congress. She is not required to resign by law.

With Alaska’s ranked choice voting scheme, all qualifying candidates appear on the primary ballot in August, and the top four vote getters advance to the November ballot, where voters rank them 1 through 4.

Through the ranked-choice calculations, if the leading candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, there is no reassigning of second-choice votes. But if the leader gets less than that, the third and fourth vote getters’ second choices are then assigned, and through a calculation method, whomever gets above the 50% mark then wins.

There will be three on the ballot so far, but the filing deadline for Congress is in June.

In her early political career, Dahlstrom was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives. Later, she became a senior advisor for military affairs for Gov. Sean Parnell.

Dahlstrom is set to make the announcement later today, sources told Must Read Alaska.

This story will be updated later today as details emerge.

Update:

“Alaska needs a proven tough fighter to stop the assault on Alaska from Joe Biden and Washington D.C. liberals,” Dahlstrom said. “Raising my four kids and working my way up in the private sector before giving back to serve Alaskans, I have seen how D.C. politicians betray Alaskans every day. In Congress, I will stop Biden and the extreme liberals ruining our future, bankrupting our families, killing our jobs, harming our military and veterans, and threatening our security.”

“I’ve dedicated my career advocating for our military and veterans, protecting our families by locking up violent criminals, and developing Alaska’s natural resources, energy, and jobs,” continued Dahlstrom. “Talk is cheap, results matter. Alaska needs Washington D.C. to stop working against us, and no one will fight harder for Alaska’s way of life than me.”

Breaking: Nick Begich announces run for Congress for ’24

130 COMMENTS

  1. Republicans need to get it together this time around. There should be no bashing of other conservative candidates, only “rank the red”. Pick your favorite and then rank the other Republicans after. We need Peltola out.

    • Never underestimate conservative capacity to screw this up.
      If Begich loses this again to anybody, he’ll be back again, and again, and again, and again, and again,……….

    • Question, what difference does it make if the person is a Republican that will just join forces with Demorats? There are some awful Republicans. This is not a popularity contest; our country and State are in big trouble. Do your research folks, do not vote based on a letter R or D. Look at their speeches, philosophies and or voting records in other positions of authority. Be a background checker, show up at fundraisers and ask the tough questions. Quite frankly, if RCV is still in place, I don’t see the communist Peltola being ousted. She was placed there by RCV, it will be manipulated again. No, I’m not saying don’t vote, I’m saying do your research and vote for the right candidate in person at the polling station. Show up in such numbers that it forces their hand to try and steal it. This way, the stealing process becomes more obvious, and they can be held accountable.

  3. I believe this has to be intended to reserve the job for Mary Peltola. If Nancy had accomplished anything, and if she had no baggage, and if she had talked Begich into ending his campaign then her announcement would appear reasonable but unlikely to succeed. As it is this is bad news for Republicans.

  6. Oh perfect! The republicans are going to split the vote again to make sure the useless Mary Peltola gets re-elected. Way to go Republicans! Since the Republicans already have losing elections mastered perfectly, why dont they try something new and exciting by getting behind ONE Republican candadite? This is stupidity at its best. They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

  7. Living out in the CER area & being around her for years, I have seen &/or been the target of her gossip, backstabbing, & creation of problems where there were none. I know people who like her but her congeniality is reserved for people she sees as useful, not for commoners. Come on, Alaska. We can do better, we MUST do better!

  8. disappointed in nancy. she will be the spoiler. how can she continue her job as lieutenant governor and run for congress? isn’t that an ethics/integrity issue?

  10. i won’t be voting for her.
    another career politician using alaskans as a stepping stone. she should quit her job as lieutenant governor if she wants to run for another office so soon after riding dunleavy coattail.

  11. This is worrisome to me because she should know better and maybe she does. No. 1 there is a good conservative candidate running against Peltola and all Dahlstrom’s candidacy does is muddy the waters, split the vote. We are NOT wanting to go through what we went through the last time with multiple conservative candidates running for congress. There needs to be one and he has already begun his campaign a long time ago. She needs to withdraw herself from the running and put her power behind Nick Begich. We can’t win if there are two Republican Conservatives in the race. I don’t know that she is a Republican Conservative, but she has the “R”. In addition, she would be overseeing her own election? This is not boding well.

    • We can win with two conservatives in the race if conservative voters are truly the majority and nearly all of them rank both options 1 and 2. Even if voters choose a Libertarian or AIP candidate 1 and then the Rs 2 and 3, their votes will never go to Peltola as long as they keep her at the bottom of their rankings. Either of the two–Begich or Dahlstrom–would be a major improvement over Peltola when it comes to conservative policies.

      • AKJ is correct. If we use the ranked choice system to actually rank the conservatives, then a conservative will win. The reason Mary won was because we failed to rank a 2nd republican and some actually put Mary as #2

      • she’s needs to get out! dems aren’t putting another dem in the race! she’s messing this up for republicans. if she really cared about alaskans and wanted to serve alaska she should stay in the job she just got elected to and actually do that job!

  12. She’s always been looking for the next thing. As soon as she was elected to the House in Eagle River she resigned and joined the department of corrections. I thought Nancy wanted to be Lt. Gov. She would probably resign from congress too.

    • Exactly!
      I don’t care what all the RCV people claim, here is another vote splitter, with Mary laughing all the way back to DC. At least this time it isn’t as polarizing as the Palin/Begich match-up. Dahlstrom should rethink this.
      I want my primary back!

  17. i moved to alaska 7 yrs ago, i “voted” for nancy because she was on gov dunleavy ticket, and i think he’s been good for the state. she has not been a good lieutenant governor, it’s disappointing.
    i hope the governor is not supporting her.

    • Every Lite Gov is a good one. All they have to do is protect the State Seal. When have we had a bad Lite Gov?

      A really good Lite Gov would say, “I have no responsibilities, and I already have a Director of Elections, so I don’t need a Chief of Staff and I don’t need my own press people.”

  18. so tired of how incompetent AK GOP is.
    good job everyone in charge over there for sitting on your butts and doing nothing. what a disappointment. nancy should not be in the race and the AK GOP should ask her to get out. she hasn’t been doing her job or even interest in doing her job as lieutenant governor if she been planning to run for congress.

  19. She’s done such a fabulous job fixing our broken election system….her ENTIRE job as Lt. governor……Gosh, I bet she’ll do just as well in congress.

  23. Who did the polling telling her that she could win. Probably used Ivan Moore
    Where’s Sara, let’s have a real dumpster fire. I will support Nick

  26. If we still had primaries would “conservatives” be calling for the first candidate to throw their hat in to the ring or would they be calling for the best candidate to win?

    Rank voting is stupid, but those who remain willfully ignorant about how it works are beyond stupid. If you want Peltola vote for her, if you don’t want Peltola don’t vote for her. As long as you don’t rank a Democrat the Democrat won’t get your vote, if you only rank one Republican then only one Republican gets your vote, it’s stupid but it’s not rocket science.

    • Right message, wrong crowd. The MRAK community can’t accept that Peltola got more votes than any combination of Republican opponents, so they cling to the myth that Begich and Palin split the vote. Their steadfast refusal to understand RCV will cost Republicans even more elections. Sigh.

      • Not true – Nick + Pailn together had more votes than Mary. Yes, absolutely, the diva from hollywood cost Nick the election.

        • A very shallow analysis. Here are the facts:
          1. Palin got more votes than Begich. In a head to head contest, she wins the primary.
          2. Begich + Palin did get more collective votes (about 2k), but you’re assuming that all of these would voted for Palin. Thanks to RCV, we know that is false. Over 7 of Nick’s voters purposely chose Peltola over Palin. In a head to head contest, they’d have voted for Peltola, which would have been enough for her to win outright (>50%).
          3. Another 13K did not vote a 2nd time. This means they either couldn’t vote for Palin under any circumstances, or they misunderstood RCV. However, those 13K would not have been enough to elect Palin.
          4. In order for Dahlstrom or Begich to win, they have to do 3 things: convince those 7K defectors to vote for them instead of Peltola, AND convince those 13K that didn’t make a 2nd choice to make them a 2nd choice. The more MRAK trashes RCV, the more likely it becomes that many of those 13k will refuse to submit a 2nd vote again (on principle).

          • Palin and Peltola were/are friends. A lot of Begich Supporters were bitter at Palin(for good reason) and voted for Peltola or sat out the race.

        • 1. In the special election, yes. In the general she got 48.66%.
          2. But still a red herring. In a head to head matchup, Palin would have been the candidate. The Begich voters that made Peltola their 2nd choice would have made Peltola their 1st choice without him – which means Peltola would have won head. There weren’t enough Begich voters that did did not make a 2nd choice (the anti RCV vote, presumably) to make a difference.

  29. This is very unwise, Nancy. You are going down the path of Sarah Palin, with about 1/10 of her name recognition just in Alaska. Most Alaska residents don’t even have a clue who you are. Quite obviously, you not only have a name recognition problem, but your ego will spoil our chances of getting rid of Mary Peltola.
    I’m placing my bets, and money, on Nick Begich.

  30. So is the GOP even active in Alaska? Last election cycle, both Senate and Congress democrats dropped out so not to split their votes. GOP needs to be the crap together or we’ll be stuck Mary 5 names again.

  31. MRAK knives are out! I don’t really see any policy differences between Dahlstrom and Begich, and barring some unforeseen scenario, both will be in the final 4 next year. We’ll see if they can run against each other without running each other into the ground. It’s going to be tough to unseat Peltola; despite what gets posted here, she’s quite popular across the state. Dahlstrom & Begich are going to have to appeal to voters that didn’t vote for Begich or Palin last time around. Catering to the base (especially this one) is not going to be sufficient to get elected.

    • Hell yeah she is popular.
      When you can tag your name onto the billions being poured into the villages statewide its a no brainer.
      Why do you think she loves Biden???? It certainly isnt rocket science.

      • Your two responses are great examples of what won’t help, but maybe you’re just venting (which is cool). The challenge is how to defeat an incumbent that is popular with the general population (obviously not with MRAK readers). Pointing out that she helped bring billions into Alaska won’t work – it kept Ted Stevens and Don Young in office for decades. Associating her with Biden is not likely to help; voters knew she was a Democrat, so I doubt that moves the needle. Talking about how her hair smells is just plain stupid. You wouldn’t make that comment about a man, so it just looks misogynistic and shallow.

  32. Dahlstrom was known at DOC as “Do Nothing Nancy” That is exactly what happened at DOC, She never addressed the staffing issues. Just retire.

      • Dunleavy likely talked her into it to try and resurrect defunct pebble as he seems to have a financial interesest in it though fraud conviction deemed the claims worthless.

  33. She didn’t do a thing to make the Department of Corrections better in her tenure there. Also, being the congressional representative because it’s on your bucket list is not a way to get votes.

  34. This stinks to high heaven. Sarah Palin 2.0 Dahlstrom has been in office less than a year and she thinks she’s all ready for the big leagues. Nope! Not supporting her.

  35. Repeal Rank Choice Voting petitions are circulating again. Anchorage (especially), PLEASE make sure to sign the petition when offered to do so if you have not already signed. We need to get the question to repeal rank choice voting on the 2024 ballot.

  36. why do republicans get in each others way? the dems aren’t going to put another dem in the race. why did nancy run for lieutenant governor if she wanted to run for congress? the main job of lieutenant governor is election process and she’s delegating that someone else, what’s the point in her staying in that job? she needs to step down. i hope the governor doesn’t support her. it’s a bad look for him and his team.

  37. “I’ve dedicated my career advocating for our military and veterans, protecting our families by locking up violent criminals, and developing Alaska’s natural resources, energy, and jobs,” continued Dahlstrom. “Talk is cheap, results matter.”
    Yep, talk is cheap – show me what you have accomplished. Crime has risen since your tenure at DOC. Incarcerations are down. Thieves strip your car overnight in Anchorage. Elections are a mess (though not all her fault, she’s supposed to oversee them).I could go on, but there is nothing rosy about what I see other than tagging along after Mike Dunleavy.

  38. What? Nancy is sick of Dunleavy after only a year? Or, is Dunleavy sick of Dahlstrom?
    Dumb and Dumber on full display.

  40. As some have said at DOC she did absolutely nothing for the correction officers. The saying was “smile and nod Nancy, smile and nod ” she was way in over her head in that job, she is way in over head at lt govenor. Listening to her on Porcaro show and she referred to this as a “bucket list” item wth???? Then saying her a Peltola are good friends huh?? Shame on Mike Porcaro did he get his interview techniques from Lester holt from nbc? He should’ve clued in on those two items, nope he went along like this was something good. I will not rank the red Nancy Dahlstrom is a train wreck.

  41. Just a shot in the dark; Someone made the calculation Nick can’t win and that Nancy polls better, then that someone, whoever they are, tapped her to give it a go..

    • LOL, anyone that paid attention to the 2022 elections (special, primary, and general) could have told you that Nick can’t win. Dahlstrom surely knew that when she filed. She has to be fairly confident that the next primary will be the 4th straight election he failed to get more votes than his opponent.

      • That said, in every head to head he beat Peltola- Palin never did. So he has every right to expect he will beat her again without Palin in. Comes down to if these two work somewhat together, like Palin and Peltola did last time, or if Nancy takes Sarah’s tactic with regards to Nick, in which case Alaska loses again.

    • nancy beats peltola? that’s laughable
      she’s doing this because she doesn’t have a shot winning the governor’s race and she’s a career politician, looking for the next best thing.

  42. Susan, we need an e-mail address for Nancy, only thing on the website if press.
    Nick Begich has been this early on! My understanding is the State Republican Party asked if any other Republicans were getting into the race, none, including Sarah.

  43. Considering who has the most to gain from her candidacy, watch very carefully where her campaign contributions come from.

  44. Better than Palin, but still a spoiler with no real reason to run other than ladder climbing. I hope she drops out and leaves the field to Begich alone.

  45. After the primary, only ONE Republican candidate should be running. Otherwise, 2 more years of Peltola. Will a Rep. candidate do the right thing? I’m not so sure.

    • But we’re talking about the primary. Why should every other candidate defer to the one that declares first? in 2015, Ted Cruz declared his candidacy before Donald Trump. Primary voters clearly didn’t put any stock in his earlier declaration.

      • because the democrats are not going to put another democrat in the race! why did she even run as lieutenant governor if she wanted to run for congress?

  47. Here we go again with the second coming of Sarah P. in the form of Nancy D. Right now, Mary P. is loving every minute of Nancy’s announcement knowing she is a shoo-in because there is too much division in the REP party to just rank the red as Mike Piccaro suggests.

    • If she is truly a Sarah clone maybe we can talk her into joining the National race with one of the GOP candidates and shoot for the stars as a VP since that has become an absolutely meaningless job ANY empty suit could fill with a title of Border Czar.

  50. Great. Let’s split the vote again and send Mary back to DC where she can keep screwing Alaska over again and again.

  52. When will Republicans learn? It is obvious Alaska is going BLUE and Republicans are like lemmings following each other over the cliff. Republicans made fools of themselves for weeks with a silly fight over Speaker of the House. Figure it out. Alaska’s Ranked Choice Voting will assure that Nancy Dahlstrom will be the 2024 SPOILER by splitting the Republican vote. In the 2020 Primary Election, more people voted for Palin and Begich combined than voted for Democrat Peltola. Yet, we ended up with Peltola in Congress.

  57. Democrats new hero is Nancy Dumbstrom. She is now Exhibit A why Mary Peltola will be re-elected. On the job one year as Lt. Governor and already has messed up the works, and herself.
    She would be better off to resign and move out of Alaska. Sort of like Sarah Palin did. Not as good looking as Palin, but maybe dumber, if that’s possible.

  58. Anyone with the faintest of conservative tendencies had better get over the last election. We are going to have to deal with RCV no matter what. If you vote then use the system to put her out to pasture. ‘Head in the sand’ mentality will doom us for more of the same.

  59. So which Democrat or Moderate Republicans talked her into throwing her name into the race. I think the corrupt Alaska establishment don’t really want newcomer Nicholas Begich. Cause putting another conservative Republican into this race is a real stupid move or this establishment crowd think Republican voters are stupid just like they probably think Anchorage Bronson base who voted for him are stupid to vote for a moderate democrat.

    Republicans can’t split its congressional vote this year. Either Nicholas or Nancy but both not ranking one 1 nor ranking the other two.

  60. The Democrats rejoice! Even if people figure out the ranked choice voting it is still going to split the effort and resources needed to be directed at removing a popular liberal with statewide connections. It isn’t just splitting the vote, it is splitting the effort. Democrats are smarter and never do that, they have all the decisions made in the back room. Strategic thinking is how a minority of liberals continue to control Alaska. On top of this I see no mention of the financial mess our country is in and I suspect she will be a culture warrior that will do nothing but stir up opposition and not attract any supporters. Who needs enemies when Republicans are continually this stupid?

  61. I find Dalstrom really never does anything. She seems to be an acceptable GOP swamp slave that is used to fill seats.
    While I’m not a big fan of Begich, the fact that Do Nothing Dalstrom is being trotted out now is interesting and concerning. It indicates back room jockeying amoung the corrupt RINO factions.
    In other words, Alaska’s elite criminals are restless and hungry.

  64. Do your job LT Gov, start advertising and let’s get this Rank Choise Voting back on the ballot. The petitions are out there. Let the Alaskan people know where they are located.For the voters who haven’t signed, let them know where to go to find them.

  66. I see that it did not take long for the Republican circular firing squad to assemble.

    The Lt. Governor is a fine candidate and decent human being. I will be supporting her. That said, I hope she keeps some distance between her candidacy and Donald Trump.

  67. Dahlstrom is the candidate who gives out a lot of promises, but once in office doesn’t remember who she promised what. Will not support her again for anything. Already working on the “No Nancy” campaign. Going to have fun with this one.

  69. As one can see from most of the above comments, this is exactly why we dislike “politicians”. It seems as if they are only in it for themselves. I call this “puffery”. At times, it seems as if this is all part of the corrupt political system we now have in America and why many voters drop out. Ms. Dahlstrom, if you have any guts and love this State, please drop out of this extremely important congressional race. You owe it to Alaskans, yourself, and this Nation.

  71. The winning candidate must know the US Constitution the best and be conspicuous for fighting for its application in its entirety.

  72. No more splitting the vote republicans!
    We the voters in alaska need/want/insist that both of you figure out whose running. DO NOT SPLIT THIS VOTE! It is too important.

  73. Sarah spoiled our chances last time around. Now it’s Nancy. I sure hope Nancy’s husband has some tough skin in this game. It beat the hell out of me and I ran as fast as I could. Life is so much better without a wife who thinks everyone loves her.

  74. Again the republicans are going to split the vote! We do that EVERY time. Nancy….please do not run in this important race

  75. Anyone that has concerns of Nancy splitting the vote and sealing up Mary Peltolas victory should be clicking on the link in the story above that goes to her campaign webite and then click on the the FB and Twitter buttons at the bottom of her campaign website and start blowing up her feeds by stating how much Alaskan Conservatives would prefer she stay out of the way.

  77. Nancy has always been more interested in the next attractive opportunity than in the actual job of working for her constituents. She’s a lightweight placeholder.

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