Former Senator Cathy Giessel, a Republican, signed on as a cochair of the Bill Walker-Heidi Drygas campaign for governor. Giessel, who was once one of the more right-leaning members of the Republican establishment, joined people like Democrat Reps. Andy Josephson, Ivy Spohnholz, Bryce Edgmon, and Adam Wool, Big Labor boss Joey Merrick, and other hard Democrats and a few Republicans in the list of co-chairs for the campaign.
Walker’s former Revenue Commissioner Randy Hoffbeck also is a co-chair, as is Walker’s business associate and former mayor of Fairbanks Luke Hopkins, who is long a supporter of Walker.
This is shaping up to be Big Labor for Walker, and Democrat Les Gara getting the green votes, splitting the left.
The Alaska election for governor is in November of 2022.
Giessel lost her race to Sen. Roger Holland in 2020, after becoming an obstruction to a full Permanent Fund dividend, and for blocking Gov. Mike Dunleavy at every turn. She has since been working behind the scenes to help redraw the political boundaries in the state to favor Democrats, and is said to be collaborating with Scott Kendall, who was Walker’s chief of staff and who led the failed Recall Dunleavy Committee. The initial list of co-chairs:
