Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Lt. Gov.-elect Nancy Dahlstrom will be sworn in at 1 pm on Monday, Dec. 5, at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Alaska Airlines Center.
The event, open to the public, will be enhanced with performances from the Alaska Native Heritage Center Dancers, the 11th Airborne Division Band, Stephen Holmstock, and members of the Pipeline Vocal Project. The swearing in will be ceremonial, as by law the new governor must be sworn in at noon, which means there will be a private ceremony before noon in order to follow the letter of the Constitution, which mandates the swearing must occur at noon on the first Monday of December. The event will be live-streamed on Youtube at this link.
For his first term, Dunleavy and Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer were sworn in at Kotzebue’s high school gymnasium. The plan was to be sworn in at Rose Dunleavy’s hometown of Noorvik, but foggy weather prevented the planes from reaching Noorvik in time for the noon deadline. Instead, when the weather cleared, the Dunleavy family went to Noorvik for the first inaugural party of many that were held around the state in subsequent weeks.
Dunleavy won with over 50% of the vote on the first round of the ballot counting on Nov. 8. He was not subject to the ranked choice voting process after handily dispatching both the Democrat in the race, Les Gara, and the no-party candidate Bill Walker, who got 24% and 21% respectively.
