Rep. Liz Snyder, the Floridian who came to Alaska for adventure and who stayed long enough to serve one term in the Alaska Legislature, has moved on. She and her husband sold their East Anchorage house in July for $500,000 in an off-market, not advertised sale. The Snyders bought the home in 2019 for $408,000, according to real estate listings.
The State of Alaska will continue paying her $4,200 monthly to be a legislator until the new representative is sworn in in January 2023.
Snyder, a hardline Democrat, represents District 21, formerly known as District 27, which she won by 11 votes against lifelong East Anchorage Rep. Lance Pruitt, a Republican, in 2020. Although she kicked off her reelection campaign in November of 2021, on June 1 of this year she said she would not run again and she supports fellow Democrat Donna Mears. Forrest Wolfe, a Republican, is also running for the district seat.
By the time she pulled the plug on her reelection, Snyder had accepted $55,585 in donations this year. On July 15 distributed more than $37,600, the last of her campaign war chest, to three Democrat-heavy groups:
- $10,000 – House Democrat Campaign Committee, an in-state group that supports Democrats
- $10,000 – Alaska Democratic Party
- $17,600 – Anchorage Federation of Community Councils
Donna Mears has already received $5,000 from the House Democrat Campaign Committee.
Snyder’s husband, Sam Snyder, has taken a job with a political firm out of state, Blue Strategies. He had been involved in various anti-Pebble Mine initiatives in Alaska.
Liz Snyder is no longer listed in the faculty directory at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She had been working for the university while the Legislature was in session, a possible constitutional violation, but one that the Legislature never pursued (being on State of Alaska payroll while taking a legislative salary).
During her campaign in 2020, Snyder insisted on being called Dr. Snyder out of respect for her public health doctorate; she frequently presented herself as an expert on Covid.
In October of 2021, she and fellow Democrats in the Legislature fought for the governor to declare a health disaster for Covid, something he would not do.
Dr. Snyder may have moved, but she’ll still be an Alaska legislator for the next five and a half months.
