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Anchorage Cops for Community Host 13th Annual Clothesline Project Aug 1st

Natalie Spaulding
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Anchorage Cops for Community Host 13th Annual Clothesline Project Aug 1st

Clothesline Project benefitting Anchorage area youth and families takes place Saturday, August 1st at Clark Middle School.

Over the past 12 years, Anchorage Cops for Community’s Clothesline Project has provided clothing and back-to-school essentials at no cost for over 10,000 students in Anchorage.

Clothesline Project aims to help kids feel good by looking good and having them start school off focused on their education— not the next time they have to wash their only pair of socks.

Each child can select clothing of their size and style before they visit community partner booths that are ready to help prepare them for success for the coming school year.

The 13th Annual Clothesline Project takes place this Saturday, August 1st, at Clark Middle School, 150 Bragaw Street, Anchorage, between 10:00 am – 2:00 pm.

Each year Anchorage Cops for Community, with the help of their local community partners, collect new and gently used clothing, shoes, and winter gear for students in need

The event provides additional FREE resources to help make the day enjoyable for children, including haircuts, bike helmets and school supplies, as well as a live DJ, free food, a bounce house and fun games

“Because of community support, hundreds of kids will head back to school feeling valued, encouraged, and better prepared for the year ahead. Together, we’re doing so much more than providing supplies— we’re helping build confidence, create hope, and remind these children that their community believes in them. That is something truly special, and we couldn’t do it without the Anchorage community.,” stated Sergeant Jon Butler of the Anchorage Police Department.

Nuvision Credit Union, through its NuvisionCares Helping Kids in Our Community program, is supporting this year’s Clothesline Project by donating 2,000+ reusable handwarmers and pairs of gloves to provide much needed warmth for youth in Anchorage and the surrounding communities, as they prepare to go back to school in the Fall.

Alaskans Pursuing Law Degree Now Have New Hybrid Option through UAS-Mitchell Hamline Partnership

Natalie Spaulding
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Alaskans Pursuing Law Degree Now Have New Hybrid Option through UAS-Mitchell Hamline Partnership

The University of Alaska Southeast and Mitchell Hamline School of Law have signed two partnership agreements, enabling UAS students and alumni to earn a law degree with tuition and time savings without moving out of state.

A direct admissions agreement guarantees acceptance at Mitchell Hamline for qualified UAS students and alumni based on factors such as GPA and LSAT scores. Applicants who qualify will receive a tuition scholarship of at least 50% at the law school.

A second agreement, for a 3+3 program, allows current undergraduate students to earn their bachelor’s and law degrees in a total of six years instead of seven. Full-time UAS students admitted to Mitchell Hamline in their third undergraduate year can now complete their final year at UAS as first-year law students.

There are no law schools in Alaska, so students have historically had to move out of state to earn a law degree. Mitchell Hamline offers a blended-learning option that combines online coursework with short, intensive on-campus classes in St. Paul, Minn. By participating in the nation’s first and largest hybrid pathway at an ABA-approved law school, law students can remain in their home communities while pursuing their degree.

“As a political scientist, I know how hard it is to get a law degree without leaving Alaska, so I am excited to help open up this access,” said Alison Staudinger, associate dean of the UAS School of Arts & Sciences. “We need people who understand our communities to stay in them, learning the legal tools to advocate for us right from home.”

Mitchell Hamline is home to the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute, which offers a certificate for law students who want to specialize in this area. The institute also advises the school’s Native American Law Student Association chapter and promotes academic accessibility and success for Native students.

“This collaboration represents a transformative opportunity for Alaska’s students,” said Camille Davidson, president and dean of Mitchell Hamline. “By staying in Alaska through the 3+3 pathway, students can achieve their educational goals faster and more affordably. We’re excited to open doors to legal education and strengthen the state of Alaska’s future legal community.”

The application deadline for the direct admission program is May 1 of the academic year before the applicant intends to begin legal studies. The deadline to apply for the 3+3 program is July 15, following a student’s third undergraduate year.

Since 2020, UAS has maintained a direct admissions partnership and undergraduate scholarship with the Willamette University College of Law in Salem, Ore., which offers a traditional, in-person pathway to a law degree.

Glenn Wright, UAS political science professor, serves as the point of contact for students or alumni interested in these programs.

Press release provided by the University of Alaska Southeast.

Opinion: Alaska Governor’s Race— Attacks and Analysis

Guest Writer
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Opinion: Alaska Governor’s Race— Attacks and Analysis

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on 7/29/26 to correct an authorship error.

By Glen Biegel

Seventeen names, one ballot, and a governor’s seat with no incumbent in the race. If you feel like you are watching a herd rather than an election, you are not wrong. That is the best way I know to describe what is happening in this primary and understanding it is the key to voting well on August 18. 

Here is the metaphor: a herd does not have a vision for where it is going. It moves because something spooks it, or because it senses which direction the rest of the herd is already running. Voters in a crowded field behave the same way. Beyond judging who has the best team and the strongest message, most people fall back on one of two things: who they think other people will pick, or who they personally like best. With seventeen candidates, actually getting to know each one takes real effort: reading platforms, showing up to meet-and-greets, asking hard questions. Most people do not have time for that, so early on, the herd tends to drift toward whoever is loudest. Later, as more people actually meet the candidates or dig into their plans, the movement gets more honest. That is what is happening right now with Senator Shelley Hughes and her running mate retired General Blake Gettys. The more people meet them or read what they are actually proposing, the more the herd shifts their direction, because there is a real plan underneath the name. 

That shift is exactly why the spooking has started. 

If you want to know who is threatened by a candidate, watch who tries to scare voters away from them instead of debating them. I have direct knowledge of two such efforts underway right now. The first is Dave Bronson’s team telling voters that Hughes is running in tenth place, so why “waste” a vote on her. Think about that claim for a second. If Bronson’s campaign genuinely believed Hughes was tenth, they would have no reason to mention her at all. You do not warn people away from a candidate who cannot win. We have recently learned from reliable sources that Hughes-Gettys is third in the Republican field and continues to gain ground each week. The tenth-place line is not information. It is an attempt to talk you out of looking closer. 

The second attack is more revealing. A new Hughes supporter recently met a well-connected operator in Democrat politics, someone getting paid well to help run Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign, and mentioned he had just come from a Hughes event and planned to support her. The response was immediate: “She’s part of a cult.” No follow-up, no specifics, no engagement on a single issue. You can visit the Evangelical church in Palmer that Hughes helped found more than twenty years ago and see for yourself that this is not a serious claim. But that was never the point. Calling someone a name like that does two things. First, it signals moral superiority: I’m better than you, and you clearly can’t judge character. Second, and more importantly, it ends the conversation before it starts. Not a word about spending, fish and game, the pipeline, the PFD, or anything resembling an actual governing plan. It is a mic-drop with nothing behind it, and that is the tell. When your best move is name-calling instead of a policy argument, you are conceding the argument. 

Now look at what isn’t happening, because it may be the most telling sign of where this race actually stands. The left has more campaign money than it knows what to do with this cycle. In politics, real money does not sit idle. If a candidate worries you, you work to define them before they define themselves. So where are the attacks on Bronson? Where are the attacks on Bernadette Wilson? Silence. Based on what I have seen of past cycles and this field, I read that silence as a decision: the well-funded left is not spending against the candidates it actually wants to face in November. 

That should tell you something about who they are afraid of. Someone without skeletons, with real legislative successes and a plan to actually govern. Not empty promises, no soundbites. 

The herd does not need to guess where it is going this year. It needs to look up, do the homework these seventeen names require, and vote for the plan rather than the noise. That plan— and the campaign other candidates are working hardest to keep you from examining— points toward Hughes and Gettys. 

Glen Biegel is a technology security professional, Catholic father of nine, husband to a saint, and politically active conservative. He volunteers for the Hughes-Gettys campaign.

About Hughes-Gettys 

Former State Senator Shelley Hughes, Republican Candidate for Governor is teamed with Lt. Governor Candidate General Blake Gettys (Ret.). Hughes, a 50-year Alaskan, has lived in communities throughout the state, spent 30 years in the private sector, and served in the State House 4 years and 8+ years in the State Senate, including as Senate Majority Leader and Judiciary Chair. General Gettys (Ret.), a 32-year resident, served as the 176th Wing Commander and Director, Joint Staff – AK Joint Force Headquarters, Alaska National Guard, JBER. To see the Hughes/Gettys action plan and solutions, visit www.AlaskansforHughes.com. 

Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, AK Picked for Significant Role in U.S. Space Force Program to Execute 12 Rocket Launches

Natalie Spaulding
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Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, AK Picked for Significant Role in U.S. Space Force Program to Execute 12 Rocket Launches

On July 27, 2026, Rocket Lab Corporation, a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced it has been awarded its largest launch contract to date, a $266 million multi-launch contract with the U.S. Space Force. The launches will primarily take place from a new Rocket Lab location at the Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska (PSCA) in Kodiak, Alaska, complementing Rocket Lab’s existing launch sites at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, and Launch Complex 2 and Launch Complex 3 in Virginia.

According to U.S. Representative Nick Begich (R-Alaska), “This landmark investment by the U.S. Space Force is a tremendous win for Alaska and America’s national security!” Under the contract awarded by the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command’s Rocket Systems Launch Program (RSLP), Rocket Lab will execute 12 suborbital launches, with up to six additional launches. The first launch of this contract is expected to take place no earlier than the end of 2026.

“The Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska in Kodiak is uniquely positioned to support rapid, responsive launch capabilities,” stated Rep. Begich. “I’ve had the opportunity to personally tour our Kodiak spaceport and see firsthand the incredible potential of this facility. It’s clear that Alaska offers a strategic advantage few places in the world can match, with the infrastructure and geography to support the next generation of defense and space innovation.”

Sir Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, commented: “Cadence, iteration, and relentless execution are essential to maturing America’s missile defense capabilities, and that’s exactly what we bring with launch leadership. The size and scale of this contract reflects the Space Force’s confidence in our ability to meet their urgent national security demands with speed, responsiveness, and scale, and we’re proud to provide the high-frequency launch capacity required to keep the U.S. ahead of global threats.” 

For Informed Voters: The Statements of Support and Opposition for Ballot Measure Imposing Campaign Finance Limits

Natalie Spaulding
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For Informed Voters: The Statements of Support and Opposition for Ballot Measure Imposing Campaign Finance Limits

On Monday, July 27, Lt. Governor Dahlstrom hosted a public hearing for the three 2026 ballot measures. The first hearing was on Ballot Measure 1, which proposes new campaign finance limits. The initiative’s sponsor, State Representative Calvin Schrage (NA-Anchorage), gave the statement of support, claiming the new limits would “level the playing field” and reduce outside influence on Alaska elections. Amy Demboski, speaking for the opposition, argued that the ballot measure would give an unfair advantage to incumbents and increase the power of political action committees (PACs) by allowing them to give up to 4x as much money as current law allows.

Ballot Measure 1

Lt. Governor Dahlstrom began the hearing by reading the ballot measure and reminding the audience that a ballot measure differs from legislation debated in the legislature in that it may not be amended or altered.

Ballot Measure will appear on the primary ballot on August 18 as follows:

“This act would change the amount of money that people and groups can give to state and local political campaigns. A court ruling in 2021 removed the limits on contributions by individuals. With this act, individuals could give $2,000 to candidates and $5,000 to political parties. Groups besides political parties could give $4,000 to candidates and $5,000 to other parties or groups. Individuals could also give $4,000 to joint campaigns for governor and lieutenant governor, and groups could give $8,000. These limits would increase with inflation every ten years beginning in 2031. Should this initiative become law?”

The full bill text can be read here:

23RCF2 – BillDownload

Statement of Support

State Representative Calvin Schrage (NA-Anchorage), the initiative’s sponsor, delivered the statement of support. He began with the background story: Alaska used to be “a national leader in campaign finance integrity,” 73% of Alaskans voted for strict campaign finance limits in 2006, a federal judge struck down those limits in 2021 as unconstitutional. The case Shrage referred to is Thompson v Hebdon where the Ninth Circuit Court ruled that Alaska’s campaign finance limit of $500 was too low and did not properly account for inflation.

Rep. Schrage argued that the state’s lack of campaign finance limits has allowed wealthy individuals and special interest groups to have “an outsized impact and shift a candidate’s focus away from the constituents they are supposed to serve.”

According to Rep. Schrage, “When a single donor can spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on a single candidate, it creates a dangerous environment. It not only grants undue influence to the ultra-wealthy, but it also exposes our elected officials to the risk and perception of quid pro quo corruption. Alaskans from all across our state placed this initiative on the ballot because we believe our elections should belong to us, not the highest bidder.”

Rep. Schrage emphasized the initiative’s intention to “level the playing field” for less wealthy candidates and non-incumbents.

Statement of Opposition

The statement of opposition was given by Amy Demboski, a Palmer resident, and joined by former State Representatives Liz Vasquez and Ben Carpenter and former State Senator David Wilson.

According to Demboski, “Proposition 1 wants you to think that it’s for fairness, but it actually limits your right as an individual Alaskan to support the causes you believe in…. By putting a cap back on individual donations this act makes it harder for regular people to have a big impact.”

Demboski countered Schrage’s claim that the initiative levels the playing field for non-incumbents, arguing instead, “Reintroducing new caps creates a pay-to-play barrier where only those who already possess significant name recognition can thrive, effectively silencing the grassroots support necessary for insurgent or unconventional candidates.”

While the ballot initiative would apply the limits equally to incumbents and non-incumbents, it would require a candidate to win over more donors to raise the money they need. An incumbent may possess a wider network of supporters and more developed soliciting infrastructure; whereas a relatively unknown challenger may only be able to reach a handful of donors. When the challenger may no longer accept large donations, the incumbent gains advantage over the challenger.

Demboski also challenged the initiative’s inflation adjustment mechanism, saying the 10-year “freeze on contribution limits” before adjusting for inflation is inadequate.

Furthermore, the ballot measure would restrict individual donors but allows political action committees (PACs) and unions to give 4x the amount current law allows. “So it quadruples the amount PACs, and unions can give to candidates, while at the same time capping and diminishing the voice of regular Alaskans. If they want to talk about an equitable playing field, this is absolutely not true,” stated Demboski.

Full Hearing

U.S. Court Dismisses Environmentalists’ Suit to Divest State of Alaska of Land Promised at Statehood

Natalie Spaulding
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U.S. Court Dismisses Environmentalists’ Suit to Divest State of Alaska of Land Promised at Statehood

On July 24, 2026, the United States District Court for the District of Alaska dismissed the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and its co-plaintiffs’ claims as to approximately 1.38 million acres of Dalton Highway corridor lands already tentatively approved for conveyance to the State and denied their request for a preliminary injunction halting the conveyance process for the remaining acreage. The court held that Alaska’s sovereign immunity bars a private suit seeking to divest the State of lands in which its title has vested and concluded that the plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on their central claim that these lands cannot be conveyed without further action by Congress.

“Alaska has fought hard to secure access to the lands that were promised to us at Statehood,” said Governor of Alaska Mike Dunleavy. “I am glad to see this land finally returning to Alaska’s control, and I am thankful for the tireless efforts of Alaskans who made it possible.”

The lands at issue lie along the Dalton Highway and Trans-Alaska Pipeline corridor. Alaska selected them under the Statehood Act, but they were held out of reach for more than fifty years by federal withdrawals dating to the 1970s. After the Department of the Interior revoked those withdrawals earlier this year, the State’s long-pending selections took effect and Interior began conveying the lands. This case, Northern Alaska Environmental Center v. Burgum, No. 3:26-cv-00108-ACP (D. Alaska), sought to unwind that process.

“Alaska waited more than fifty years for these lands,” said Acting Attorney General Cori Mills. “The court’s decision is an important step toward the promise Congress made at Statehood being kept in full.”

The State of Alaska has worked tirelessly over the years to secure its rightful claim to these lands. The court’s order underscores what is at stake in that effort, noting the Supreme Court’s observation that this land grant exists to propel private industry and create a tax base for the State. Today’s ruling protects Alaska’s interest in lands the State is now positioned to manage for the benefit of Alaskans for generations to come.

Attorney General Mills further emphasized, “This victory is for all Alaskans. It ensures that our state can continue to thrive, managing our lands for economic growth, environmental stewardship, and the benefit of every community.”

The State of Alaska looks forward to continuing its stewardship of these lands.

Press release provided by the State of Alaska Department of Law.

Wells Fargo Gives $250,000 to Alaska Vocational and Technical Center (AVTEC)

Natalie Spaulding
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Wells Fargo Gives $250,000 to Alaska Vocational and Technical Center (AVTEC)

On July 23, 2026, the Alaska Vocational and Technical Center (AVTEC), a Division of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD), received a $250,000 donation to expand scholarship opportunities for Alaskans to obtain vocational training, and faculty support. A leading vocational center in the state, AVTEC intends to use this donation to help remove barriers for Alaskans seeking to obtain career training.

The donation from Wells Fargo was announced at an event hosted at Homer’s Bay Weld Boats and attended by Governor Mike Dunleavy, local leaders, bank representatives, Bay Weld Boats employees, and AVTEC Director Cory Ortiz. The event also featured remarks from “Dirty Jobs'” Mike Rowe. The mikeroweWORKS Foundation funds scholarships across the nation to prepare Americans for careers in the skilled trades. Alaskans have applied for the mikeroweWORKS Foundation scholarship and have been awarded them to help fund tuition at AVTEC.

“Alaska is the land of opportunity to build rewarding careers in a broad array of industries,” said Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy. “Public and private sector investment, working together, can provide more options for economic growth, and the development of the next generation of Alaskans to get and retain great jobs.”

“Strong communities depend on a skilled workforce and access to opportunity,” said Jason Rosenberg, Head of Public Affairs at Wells Fargo. “Our support of AVTEC is an investment in Alaska’s workforce and its long-term economic growth.”

“This extraordinary investment from Wells Fargo is an investment in Alaska’s future workforce,” said AVTEC Director Cory Ortiz. “Every scholarship awarded and every instructor we recruit and retain strengthens our ability to prepare skilled Alaskans for high-demand careers that keep our state moving. We’re incredibly grateful for Wells Fargo’s partnership and their commitment to expanding opportunity for students across our state.”

“I’m grateful to Wells Fargo for their support of workforce development at AVTEC,” said DOLWD Commissioner Cathy Muñoz. “Expanding support for Alaskans will open the door for more Alaskans to attend industry-recognized training.”

Located in Seward, AVTEC is an excellent place for Alaskans from across the state to gain key employability and technical skills and start a career in less than a year. For information about the training opportunities at AVTEC, visit avtec.edu or contact admissions at (907) 224-3322 or [email protected].

Press release provided by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

After Attempting to Force Alaskan Surrogate Mother to Undergo Late-Term Abortion, California Couple Persuades Alaska Superior Court to Relinquish Jurisdiction Over Baby’s Birthplace

Natalie Spaulding
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After Attempting to Force Alaskan Surrogate Mother to Undergo Late-Term Abortion, California Couple Persuades Alaska Superior Court to Relinquish Jurisdiction Over Baby’s Birthplace

On July 28, 2026, the Alaska Superior Court failed to protect an Alaskan surrogate’s constitutional right to privacy and ruled that a California court may dictate the place where she gives birth and the medical team to treat her. The case involves a California couple who tried to force an Alaskan surrogate mother to get a late-term abortion when the baby was diagnosed with a serious, but treatable heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).

After the surrogate mother refused abortion, she relocated to Texas so she could deliver the baby at a leading hospital specializing in HLHS. The California couple then tried to force the surrogate mother to give birth in California with a medical team of their choosing. Rather than upholding the Alaskan surrogate mother’s rights to make her own medical decisions, the Alaska Superior Court ruled that California has jurisdiction over the birthplace. The Court’s decision ignored the Alaska Department of Law’s Statement of Interest arguing that the surrogate mother’s constitutional right to privacy trumps the surrogacy contract.

After the unborn baby’s diagnosis, the California couple decided they did not want the baby to live despite evidence of treatability. The couple demanded the woman undergo a late-term, high-risk abortion in Seattle, Washington. No Alaskan doctor would perform the abortion, which would have been an invasive, two-day long surgical procedure to end the life of a baby inside a woman unwilling to have that procedure. The couple, who appear as A.B. and C.D. in the legal briefs, tried to invoke an abortion-upon-demand clause in the Surrogacy Agreement.

According to the legal brief, the California couple “intended to coerce, abuse, humiliate, harass, or degrade McKenna into a late-term, two-day surgical abortion of Baby Gabriel without knowing and voluntary consent.”

McKenna West, the surrogate mother, stated that she could not abort “this precious baby who had now become a part of her.” She offered to simply cut ties with A.B. and C.D. and relieve them of any financial responsibility. A.B. and C.D. were discontent with allowing the baby to live despite McKenna’s offer to either raise the baby or place the baby for adoption, and instead they threatened to sue McKenna for over $250,000 for breaching the Surrogacy Agreement.

Confident that McKenna would comply, the California couple dismissed their parentage proceedings in Alaska state court. However, McKenna did not comply and insisted on giving birth to the baby.

McKenna stated: “Do [A.B. and C.D.] know they are expecting me to go have this baby boy’s heart injected with a solution that will stop his heart and then he’ll be literally ripped apart and dismembered as he’s taken from my uterus? I do not discount the extremely difficult journey they have been on…, but I am being faced with physically going through the dismemberment of a 23 week old baby… as gruesome as this is to say, it’s the truth.”

After McKenna continued to refuse abortion, the California couple attempted to reopen the parentage proceedings in Alaska to establish parental rights of the unborn baby. When the parentage proceedings did not proceed at a speed to their liking, they sought to establish parental rights in a California Court despite the Surrogacy Agreement’s explicit clause providing “the laws of the State of Alaska shall govern this Agreement.”

McKenna then filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Alaska seeking sole custody of the baby, arguing that “if a court determines that A.B. and C.D. are the legal parents of Baby Gabriel, he will suffer clear detriment if placed in their custody instead of with McKenna” because “A.B. and C.D. have sought to end Baby Gabriel’s life and continue to refuse to commit to the lifesaving procedures he requires.”

Doing all in her power to give the baby the best possible life, McKenna relocated to Texas so she could have the baby in the nation’s leading pediatric hospital specializing in Baby Gabriel’s heart condition. The California couple tried to order her to California to be receive prenatal care and labor and delivery care from doctors of their choosing.

Upon hearing of the proceedings, the State of Alaska issued a Statement of Interest, arguing that “the Alaska Constitution protects the right of a surrogate mother to make deeply personal medical decisions— including whether to continue her pregnancy, where she will receive prenatal care, which doctors will help her manage her high-risk pregnancy, and who ultimately will treat her as she labors and delivers the baby.”

According to the State of Alaska’s statement, “The constitutional right of privacy protects a woman’s autonomy to make those decisions for herself. It does not empower contracting parties or courts to make them for her here.”

The California couple then filed an objection to the State of Alaska’s Statement of Interest, claiming “McKenna West and her drove of out-of-state, special-interest-driven attorneys have taken the bullying and intimidation in this case to a new level: using the power of the State of Alaska to intervene in legally irrelevant manner and to ignore the constitutional rights of Defendants A.B. and C.D. as parents, their rights of privacy to make decisions regarding the health and medical care for their son, and the best interests of their unborn child.”

Despite previously seeking to kill that same unborn child, A.B. and C.D. assert parental rights. They also assert that McKenna “continues to cause confusion and stress at a time when the only interests being considered should be the child’s.”

Because the Alaska Superior Court refused to act in the best interest of the child, instead shifting jurisdiction to California, the fate of baby Gabriel now lies in the hands of California judges. Judges who hold the power to decide whether it is just for a couple to buy a woman’s body to fulfill their own desires, threaten her with financial ruin if she does not end the human life inside her simply because he was not the product they wanted, and claim a right to dictate the woman’s birth experience and the baby’s medical care.

Court Documents

TC – Initiating Documents – 3AN-26-07180CI – AMC – AMENDED COMPLAINT – 6-24-2026 –Download
State of Alaskas Statement of Interest filedDownload
A.B. and C.D.’s objection and motion to strike state’s filingDownload
TC – Motion Order – 3AN-26-07180CI – ORDER – ORDER (LINKED TO MOTION) – 7-28-2026 –Download

Hughes, Bishop, Begich Rank Top 3 Candidates for Governor with Highest In-State Patronage

Natalie Spaulding
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Hughes, Bishop, Begich Rank Top 3 Candidates for Governor with Highest In-State Patronage

It is hardly a secret that money plays a role in shaping a public official’s loyalties, which makes Alaskans wary of candidates who rely on out-of-state funding. How are the gubernatorial candidates stacking up in terms of Alaskan vs. out-of-state patronage?

This analysis reveals Shelley Hughes (Republican) ranks #1 for highest ratio of Alaskan dollars and Alaskan donors compared to out-of-state dollars and donors. Click Bishop (Republican) ranks #2 with less than half of Hughes’ ratio of dollars, but very close to Hughes in number of donors. Tom Begich (Democrat) ranks #3 with approximately half of Bishop’s ratio of dollars, and about one-third Bishop’s ratio of donors.

Treg Taylor and Dave Bronson ranked in the middle of the list with 4-5x more Alaskan patronage than out-of-state though varying greatly between dollars and donors. Taylor raised 5x Alaskan dollars than out-of-state dollars but with a ratio of 2 Alaskan donors to every 1 out-of-state donor. In contrast, Bronson raised only 2x Alaskan dollars than out-of-state dollars but with a ratio of 4 individual Alaskan donors to every 1 out-of-state donor.

Matt Heilala and Adam Crum raised approximately equal parts in-state and out-of-state dollars with Heilala reporting twice as many Alaskan donors as out-of-state donors. Bernadette Wilson is the only candidate in this analysis to report more out-of-state donors than in-state donors with a ratio of 1 Alaskan to every 2 out-of-state donors. However, in terms of dollars, the analysis shows her receiving $2 in-state to every $1 out-of-state.

Alaskan Dollars Per $1 Out-of-State

  1. Shelley Hughes — 64 : 1
  2. Click Bishop — 25 : 1
  3. Tom Begich — 12 : 1
  4. Treg Taylor — 5 : 1
  5. Dave Bronson — 2 : 1
  6. Bernadette Wilson — 2 : 1
  7. Matt Heilala — 1 : 1
  8. Adam Crum — 1 : 1

Number of Alaskan Donors to 1 Out-of-State Donor

  1. Shelley Hughes — 27 : 1
  2. Click Bishop — 23 : 1
  3. Tom Begich — 7 : 1
  4. Dave Bronson — 4 : 1
  5. Matt Heilala — 2 : 1
  6. Treg Taylor — 2 : 1
  7. Adam Crum — 1 : 1
  8. Bernadette Wilson — 1 : 2

Methodology and Math

This analysis was done using recently published campaign funding analysis by Will Koeppen. The analysis looks at candidates that raised over $20,000 by the first filing deadline, February 1, 2026.

Koeppen used raw financial disclosure data downloaded from the Alaska Public Offices Commission (APOC). Candidate income records were processed to separate donations from individuals, groups, and self-funding and standardize addresses. A combination of automated and manual multi-field, evidence-based matching (first name, last name, address, employer, occupation) was applied to determine individual donors. According to Koeppen, “The process was conservative but may not be perfect. For example, a donor with a common first and last name who listed a street address for one donation and a P.O. Box for another could not be confidently identified as being from a single person. Sometimes employer or occupation fields could help make that determination; however, approximately 40% of records listed “retired” as the occupation of the contributor.”

Here is the data extracted from Koeppen’s analysis:

Candidate$ from Alaskans# of Alaskan donors$ from out-of-state# of out-of-state donors$ self-funded
Matt Heilala$43,488245$37,67699$1,283,072
Treg Taylor$497,411172$95,33276$287,566
Adam Crum$146,462123$131,52485$60,000
Tom Begich$321,565649$26,07987$161
Shelley Hughes$77,008109$1,2054$228,247
Bernadette Wilson$191,709516$107,1631,000$7,112
Click Bishop$272,087385$11,05517$49
Dave Bronson$128,503235$59,90356$28,878

These numbers were then used to calculated percentages and ratios.

Candidate% Alaskan Dollars% Alaskan Donors% Out-of-State Dollars% Out-of-State Donors% Self-Funded
Matt Heilala3.2%71.2%2.8%28.8%94.1%
Treg Taylor56.5%69.4%10.8%30.6%32.7%
Adam Crum43.3%59.1%38.9%40.9%17.8%
Tom Begich92.5%88.2%7.5%11.8%0.0%
Shelley Hughes25.1%96.5%0.4%3.5%74.5%
Bernadette Wilson62.7%34.0%35.0%66.0%2.3%
Click Bishop96.1%95.8%3.9%4.2%0.0%
Dave Bronson59.1%80.8%27.6%19.2%13.3%
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