Dave Donley: Why I Am Running

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By DAVE DONLEY

I am running for the Anchorage Assembly Midtown District 4 in the April 2026 election. I grew up in Spenard/Midtown and served sixteen years representing Midtown Anchorage in the State House and Senate. After nine years on the Anchorage School Board, I am term limited from running again. The Assembly seat I am running for is currently held by Assembly Member Felix Rivera and he is term limited from running for re-election, so it is an open seat.

I am running to make the lives of Anchorage families better. To do that I will work to restore common sense to local government by focusing on three key basics of local government: SAFETY – SCHOOLS – ROADS.

SAFETY:

I will work for safer homes, neighborhoods, and schools by prioritizing the numbers and effectiveness of our police, ensuring prompt emergency fire and medical response, and protecting our neighborhoods and families from criminal homeless activity. The current remedies and responses to Anchorage’s homeless problem are wasteful, failing, and unaccountable. As a first step, Anchorage needs a homeless Navigation Center – such centers are proving highly successful in the lower 48 – to comprehensively provide services to transition the willing out of homelessness.

SCHOOLS:

I will continue to support our students and teachers through assisting schools with transportation, safety, and sports program funding. I advocate fully staffing the School Resource Officer (APD) program which is essential for protecting our children attending schools. As I successfully did as a State Senator and Anchorage School Board Member, I will continue to advocate for fair state funding of Anchorage schools. I will work for greater co-operation between ASD and the city with maintenance services to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

ROADS:

As a State Senator I successfully championed multiple key road projects and transportation reforms for better and safer Anchorage roads. Better snow removal and basic maintenance can be accomplished. A good primary road system protects our neighborhoods from short-cutting speeders.

I have spent my entire career serving the citizens of Anchorage and Alaska. This is my twenty-fifth year of serving in elected office representing my hometown of Anchorage. After nine years on the Anchorage School Board, my twins will be graduating in April 2026, at the same time my School Board term ends.

As a School Board Member, I proposed budget reductions, greater efficiency, patriotic activities, and even fairer pay for teachers. I advocated parental rights and common-sense reforms.  I held the Board accountable and proved I will not be intimidated from calling for “Common Sense on SAFETY – SCHOOLS – ROADS” in the Assembly.

My website is donley4alaska.com and I ask for your support now and your votes this April.

Former Senator Dave Donley served 16 years in the Alaska Legislature, is in his third and final term on the Anchorage School Board and has twins in public high school.

29 COMMENTS

  1. We need more conservative, logical people on the assembly and I fully support Dave, even though he is not in my district. The insane movement of tax money out of the property owner’s pockets into the pockets of a few connected people in the homeless industrial complex has to end.

  5. “Fairer pay for teachers.”

    Does that mean more pay? Or less pay? Based on the quality of public education in Anchorage, it could very well mean a pay cut.

    • Dan
      For years ASD has not been able to fill Special Needs Teacher positions budgeted. ASD has about 50 unfilled special needs teacher postions this year. These especially challenging teaching assignments require special training. Basic economics indicates a need to better compensate Special Needs Teachers to be able to compete nationally for these needed positions. The state funding formula provides significant extra funding to do this. But the AEA has resisted allowing paying these teachers more. The District has made things worse by not letting teachers in these postions transfer to non-special needs positions when they need a break. I will continue to advocate that the collective bargaining agreement allow the District to pay a competitive compensation to help fill these needed positions. That is economics and fair.

  7. I’m happy that you are running, Dist 4 has 3-4 of the “low life” dictating assembly members that has dominated the wishes of many Anchorage-ites.

  9. Sorry, not buying it.
    Safety: Run on a platform of eliminating DAs that don’t prosecute and liberal activist judges who don’t enforce the law. Until then, more police is wasteful.
    Schools: Brick and Mortar schools are dying, propping them up with endless supplies of cash is a recipe for waste and corruption.
    Roads: How about new roads and expanding access instead of increased spending on current roads and going after speeders?

    • daddio
      The School Board has no jurisdiction over prosecutors and judges. My tough-on-crime and pro-crime-victim record as a legislator is second to none. We need to protect our students from external violent threats and the current political reality (outnumbered 6 to 1 on the School Board) is the only way to do that is with police officers. The SRO-APD program is essential to protect our children, particularly in secondary schools where threats may come from inside the building.

      • APD harassment and made homeless while fighting APD bullying and stealing 5 of my vehicles while leaving me on the side of the road with just the clothes on my back during winter is really what he means by more police. Tyrannical bullying and pulling excessive force planned and targeted stops is what I’ve endured for 3 years. Funny how you hung up on me, Dave, and said you couldn’t help me. Really? I know you could but since you are behind it why would you???

  10. Thanks Dave!
    Even though I am not in your district I will be supporting you with a generous donation.
    Your common sense displayed while serving our children on ASD’s school board was an all out uphill battle against the rest of the lunatics who simply take orders from the NEA and the clown they hired from Texas to run our schools to the bottom of the pit.

    Most importantly it is a glorious day for all the citizens in Anchorage to be relieved of the ignorant and arrogant Felix who is responsible for his role in creating the worst engineered disaster in Anchorage history.
    The Suzanne LaFrance Autonomous Zone!

    • Pops
      Municipal elections are by law non-partisan. I have been a delegate to the Republican National Convention multiple times. Easy to find on the internet.

  14. For helping to make the Anchorage education industry what it is today, arguably one of the most corrupt, overpriced, underperforming, perverted, child-mutilating, illegal-alien sanctuary rackets in the country, Dave deserves a promotion?
    .
    Dave’s proven ability to help steer (pad?) million-dollar school-district contracts exclusively to union contractors should come in handy at the Assembly level, no?
    (https://mustreadalaska.com/anchorage-school-board-votes-for-construction-monopoly-by-labor-unions/)
    .
    Yeah, Dave go for it. But do us a solid and ditch the boring, worn-out safety, schools, and road crap, okay?

  15. Xlnt! Knock that unhealthy uber poofter off the Anchorage Assembly and replace him w/ someone responsible for a change. Good on you, Donley!

  18. […] contributor” and a former Anchorage representative state House and then Senate, explaining “Why I Am Running” for the Anchorage Assembly and a post by “senior contributor” Greg Sarber ruminating on hunting, hiking and the hard life […]

  19. Dave Donley is going to be a welcome voice of reason on the Anchorage Assembly. He has been a voice for common sense and practical solutions on the Anchorage School Board, most of which often has seemed more concerned with social engineering than educational excellence, for most of the past decade. It’s rare to find such a high degree of intelligence and a strong working history in someone willing to dedicate his life to public service. Anchorage needs Dave on the assembly.

  20. Thank the maker! I was extremely glad to hear you are running in our district during your interview on Amy Demboski’s morning radio show (KENI 650 AM 6:00 to 8:00 – iHeart podcast) recently. You have my full support Sir. I recall Mayor Dan Sullivan remarking that he was not running for re-election because he couldn’t get anything done with our current assembly. Dave, you are our only hope!

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