By GREG SARBER
Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom has a tough choice to make. She must choose between being a possible congresswoman or likely governor.
As reported in Must Read Alaska, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy attended the Republican National Convention last week. He did more than represent Alaska, he met with President Donald Trump and was seated three chairs away from Trump during the last night of the convention speeches.
This is a bit surprising; sitting with the former president is a place of honor, and of all the Republicans at the convention, Dunleavy was the person to receive it. This raises Dunleavy’s visibility in the Republican world and tells you that Dunleavy is held in high favor by Trump.
The close association might confirm the rumors that have been circulating for the past year, in which Dunleavy has been mentioned as a potential secretary of the Interior in a future Trump administration. Dunleavy’s proximity to Trump at the convention lends credence to that idea if Trump wins the presidential election in November.
For an ambitious politician, that would be a wise political step. The governor’s current term will end in 2026, and he is term-limited meaning he cannot run for governor again. Dunleavy’s options after his current term is over are limited. He could go back to teaching school, or if he wishes to remain in politics, he could run for the U.S. Senate in 2028 against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who will be up for reelection in that year. Neither of these choices looks like a smart career choice. Dunleavy’s best chance to advance his political career is in national politics as part of the Trump administration.
How does that impact Lt. Gov. Dahlstrom? Dahlstrom is currently running for the U.S. House in a closely contested race for Alaska’s congressional seat against Nick Begich and the incumbent Mary Peltola.
Polling for Alaska political offices is notoriously difficult, but according to the polling site “Data for Progress,” the most recent polling data shows the following for the congressional race:
Mary Peltola (D) – 44%
Nick Begich (R) – 35%
Nancy Dahlstrom (R) – 10%
Chris Bye (L) – 2% (Bye is not a candidate)
The website also forecasts a near tie in the election results after the rank choice voting automatic runoff, with Peltola and Begich coming down to a near 50/50 split in voting after Dahlstrom and Bye are eliminated. This doesn’t bode well for Dahlstrom’s chances in the congressional general election.
So, if you are Dahlstrom, and see the current governor sitting next to Donald Trump at the convention and have the benefit of seeing the recent polling results for your own race, you have to be thinking about your political future and what is the best course of action.
Dahlstrom can continue to battle it out with Begich and Peltola up until the Aug. 20 primary. It is an election after all, and she does have Donald Trump’s endorsement, so she might do better than the polling suggests, but if the primary results reflect current polling, she will come in third.
At that point, Dahlstrom can hope for a miracle and foolishly remain in the race as the RCV system allows her to do. The top four vote-getters in the primary will make it through to the general election. Nancy Dahlstrom will certainly make the top four and will be on the general election ballot.
Both Republicans tried that strategy in 2022, and ended up splitting the Republican vote which gifted Democrat Mary Peltola an election victory in a race she should never have won.
Should Dahlstrom try that again this year, it would mean that she would be running against Peltola, Begich, and Bye in the general election, which would probably split the Republican vote giving the election to Peltola again.
That’s exactly what Peltola and the Democrats are hoping for, but Dahlstrom has options that were unavailable to Sarah Palin and Nick Begich in the 2022 election. Dahlstrom can drop out if she loses the primary, graciously give her support to Nick Begich, and act magnanimously in defeat. This action would endear her to Alaska Republicans.
Then Dahlstrom could hold her breath and hope that Trump wins in November and makes Dunleavy part of his cabinet. If Dunleavy resigns as governor to take a job in the Trump administration, as the lieutenant governor, Dahlstrom would then be appointed to fill his place for the last two years of Dunleavy’s current term.
By dropping out after the primary election and helping Nick Begich, Dahlstrom might cement her standing with Alaska Republicans, and by getting the governorship with Dunleavy’s departure, Dahlstrom could win two additional terms as governor, setting herself up for a potential 10 years as governor going forward.
Even if Dunleavy is not part of the next Trump administration, Dunleavy can’t run for reelection in 2026 and Dahlstrom has raised her visibility with the current congressional race. She would be in a good position to run for governor in two years. That sounds like a pretty wise choice for a long-time Alaska politician looking to extend her career.
It is ironic how Dahlstrom’s career is shaped by vacancy appointments. Dahlstrom got her first seat in the Alaska House by being a replacement for Lisa Murkowski after Murkowski was promoted to fill her father’s Senate seat. Dahlstrom could become governor by filling Dunleavy’s vacancy if he joins the Trump administration.
Stranger things have happened. You have to love Alaska politics, never a dull moment.
Greg Sarber is a board member of Alaska Gold Communications, the parent company to Must Read Alaska. He writes in his own capacity as a resident of Alaska. This column first ran in Seward’s Folly.
She would be a disaster to Alaskans as either. You think Murkowski’s a lying backstabber? Just wait for Nancy. She’s all about herself & would stab a person in the back in a hot second if she feels even the slightest bit threatened. She also has zero qualities of a good leader. She’s not even been mediocre & I can’t tell that she’s done much of anything in any of the government positions she’s occupied. Alaska doesn’t need any more of anything less that great & she’s WAY LESS than great.
It sure seems Dahlstrom is so hungry to stay in politics that logic and statesmanship are thrown aside in clawing for a the next position. It makes zero sense for her to run against Begich and it creates a huge risk of handing Peltola another term.
Dunleavy shaking the hand of the president who crushed the foreign owned, securities fraud convicted
pebble mine, the governors favorite project.
Glad to be back in my native state and fight, fight, fight!
“foreign owned”
Haha if you believe that then you have the IQ of a rock. Northern Dynasty is headquartered in Vancouver yes but is OWNED by shareholders worldwide many of which reside in Alaska.
That’s a fact Tim. They trade on the New York stock exchange.
Those shares are worthless now and besides Tim, owning stock does not allow control in a company. Trump says no pebble mine and is one reason why I’m voting for him 😉
I don’t understand what the republican party of Alaska is thinking. They gave our house seat to a useless democrat once, now they want to give her a second chance. Damn!
I do not understand how Dahlstrom can be running for a congressional seat or any position when SHE oversees the elections. Dang. Why is there not discussion about this? In 2022, wasn’t there another lady (Whitmer?) in another state that was overseeing her own election? This is beyond nice words in my opinion.
Again, WHY IS THERE NO DISCUSSION ABOUT LT GOVERNOR DAHLSTROM overseeing the election in which she is a candidate?
Katie Hobbs, Arizona govenor, oversaw the elections with a lot of scandals, such as printers in the red portions of the state running out of ink.
Oh! That was it! Thank you for posting this. Arizona has not been able to get rid of Hobbs either!
Sorry, but I won’t vote Dahlstrom for dog catcher. She has shown her determination to sink Nick Begich’s chances to defeat Mary Peltola. And sterling Nick said he would step aside if Dahlstrom polled higher than Nick. Well, Nick is beating Dahlstrom by a 3 to 1 margin. This speaks volumes to Dahlstrom’s character. She’s no good!!!!!
Dahlstrom speaks a party line, but she is a selfish, lying old woman, andon her last stand in politics.
Please join me in denouncing Dahlstrom for any position in Alaska. I will work hard to keep exposing this kinniving drone.
👏👏👏
🙌🙌👏👏🙌🙌👏👏
Isn’t one of her enumerated responsibilities to ensure the voter rolls are keep clean & current by the board of elections? Anyone believe that is happening?
Department of Corrections personnel need to speak up about how terrible Nancy Dahlstrom was as commissioner. So far … crickets.
It is so frustrating to see how the leadership of DoC under this & the previous administration have gotten away with inexcusable behavior, completely derelict in their duties. I also can’t help but wonder about the crickets.
You don’t say…hmmm
Staying in place could be good for all……….
On a bit of a tangent: The Governor should think long and hard about the Interior job. Speaking from a little bit of experience, the bureaucrats and lobbyists – of both the left and right – would likely eat him alive. Enormous detail, rabid internal and career politics are not the Governor’s strong areas. Transportation might be a better choice for both him and Alaska.
“………The Governor should think long and hard about the Interior job………”
The very existence of TAPS can be directly attributable to world oil politics (just like today’s) and Nixon elevating Alaska Governor Hickel to Secretary of the Interior. Remarkably, national domestic politics (1960’s) was horribly similar to todays in terms of low intensity civil warlike.
I agree: to prison for attempted genocide, racketeering, etc.. He has no political future of benefit to Alaska, which he’s already imperiled and left vulnerable to attack by several other super powers who “fear him not”. Moreover, he has incurred loss, lots and lots of financial loss.
Trump has the grace of God directing him. If Trump says it should be Dahlstrom how can we argue with him. How in the world do you think that bullet was intercepted? Can’t we all agree he is the chosen one?
Trump’s endorsement is just that – an endorsement. He expects us to vote as we feel we should vote.
Sebastian, I fully support Donald Trump for president, but he *often* has *not* been led by the Holy Spirit, and still does and says some unChristian things, following his flesh instead of the Holy Spirit.
And many of those advising him have led him astray, like some from Alaska appear to be doing now with Nancy and previously did with Sarah Palin, helping Mary Peltola get in. Something is seriously wrong with these anti-Nick people.
Venerating people and blindly following them is a bad idea, period. Only Jesus should be followed without questioning, no matter what.
We all need to be led by the Holy Spirit ourselves and do our homework to vet people. Even if we’re very close to God, the Holy Spirit won’t tell us many things that we’re supposed to learn by doing our own due diligence.
Many of Trump’s appointments have not been good — his track record.
Trump said false things about Nick Begich in his endorsement of Nancy. He doesn’t even know the truth. People act like he’s God, but he can’t be everywhere at once and no everything.
As President, he often didn’t research things himself, but trusted his advisors way too much, like Bolton, Pompeio and other deep state operatives.
God probably did help Trump dodge that bullet, but Donald Trump is not a saint to be worshiped and bowed down to. His VP pick, JD Vance may not even have been a great choice, and Trump spent a lot of time considering him.
We need to be following the Holy Spirit ourselves, making sure we’re right with God and all people, like Paul always practiced (Acts 24:16). Then we’ll have clear consciences before God and men, and make better decisions.
Many are putting all of their hope for the future of America in Trump, while hardly any “Christians” today actually abide in Christ, so holiness is rare, and hardly any “Christians” are actually salt and light.
Many young people especially are more attracted to wokeness than Christianity, because they don’t see much real Christianity.
How many “Christians” are actually real Christians?
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” – Paul in Romans 8:14.
Thats all great Jeff but have you seen how the stock market has soared the last 3 trading days knowing Trump is the likely next President? Plus Trump will finally be able to get rid of that pesky Affordable Care Act and those 20 year olds will no longer be grifting off their parent’s health insurance.
Being blessed doesn’t equal being 100% correct 100% of the time. God is involved in miracles everyday that do not make the beneficiary a prophet.
I hope this is a scenario that comes to fruition.
I heard Dahlstrom is getting out of the race after the primary. They know they won’t be able to finish ahead of Peltola later or Begich now. There’s just no support.
“It is ironic how Dahlstrom’s career is shaped by vacancy appointments.”
If we don’t want her representing us in Congress, why on God’s green earth would we want her as governor of the state?
If she’s ambitious enough to follow the bell weather and drop out of the congressional race in the hopes of taking Dunleavy’s place by default, I’m even less inclined to think well of her than I was before.
Maybe someone is willing to write a piece explaining to us on what merits she should hold office at all?
Nancy is climbing the political ladder but serving whom? The State Republican party, as seen in Juneau legislature, is happy the way things are. Wonder if the same old State Republican establishment, provided the reference to the Trump team to get the Republican party endorsement & $$$$ for Nancy’s campaign? Dollars did not come from in state…(see earlier MRAK article).
The solid support for Begich, by Alaskans, needs to be made known by Alaskans to the Republican establishment outside of Alaska…. An email/letter writing campaign to the Trump team, requesting the change in the Trump endorsement, needs to open eyes.outside of Alaska.
Otherwise Proud Mary rides again….
Dahlstrom’s dilemma is that very few Alaskans like her, or trust her. Dunleavy is slow to get this message. Trump will get it sooner.
Nancy needs to step out.
Folks, I don’t care who you support in Congressional seat but it does not bode well to badmouth Dahlstrom. If in fact she stays in the race the only way to beat the current congressman is to rank the red. The problem is most Republicans refuse to look at RCV and how to play the game. We lost last time because Republicans did not rank and many voted for the Democrat. You better be very sure in a race your candidate can get 51 percent first time out or we send Miss Mary back to DC!
And by ranking: Rank NB III as the first choice, rank Dahlstrom as the second choice. Rank No Others. Leave the 3rd and 4th choices blank.
Better to know who the enemy is (Peltola), than to not know if your friend is really a foe (Dahlstrom).
Never Dahlstrom.
NB3 is the one!
Yes! It’s not republicans eating their own, as some assert, because Nancy will be whatever it takes to get elected & reelected. The only positive thing I can say about Petola is that she isn’t lying about being a democrat.
Exactly and uninformed authors citing absurd polling by “Data for Progress,” and spreading ignorance of our current voting methods ONLY helps Peltola and Democrats and in NO WAY helps Begich or Republicans.
I don’t care if you like or dislike Begich or Dahlstrom, when Republicans eat their own Democrats win.
How about she does neither.
🙌👏
Dunleavy and dahlstrom need to be swept into the dustbin and thrown out with the rest of the RINO trash! So tired of ” welcome to the new boss, same as the old boss ” BS………..
Nancy is a nice person but really we need just one candidate. She needs to finish the job she ran for and we all voted for her to do. Please Nancy just do your job.
Truth
Once again, here’s a list of all the elections won by Nick the 3:
Lol True. But, you would have Nancy or Mary then?
Dahlstrom is hosed, either way.. If she supports Begich, his supporters will still never forgive her for opposing their Precious Nick!!! For that she must be cast into the outer darkness FOREVER!!!
With RCV, the democrats knew full well that, as always, when you give the Alaskan republican party an opportunity to shoot itself in the foot, it always seems to find a way to do just that; and that the republican voters are simply too stubborn (or too stupid) to figure out how to make RCV work.
If Nancy wants to run, good on her; but no matter what, all you have to do to make it work is to: RANK THE RED!
The right course of action for Dalstrom is to step aside. Her numbers show she can’t win and she’s taking votes away from Begich. Please Nancy do the right thing. Become Gov. Then stand for re-election. Hopefully she won’t do any damage while she is in office and we can then elect a true conservative.
Dahlstrom should not run for governor or any office.
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