The left-leaning, Democrats’ favorite candidate for the new Assembly seat for downtown Anchorage is leading in the hyper-local election that ended Tuesday night.
With 3,801 votes counted, Daniel Volland won 1,452, or 38.49% of ballots counted so far. 3,801 ballots were cast of the 36,655 voters mailed ballots in the district. The results are unofficial but unlikely to change with any remaining ballots still in the mail.
The election for the 12th seat was held after Assemblyman Chris Constant asked Anchorage voters to award downtown Anchorage a second seat on the Assembly, and voters approved. Only voters in the Assembly District 1 voted in this race.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted with 13 other Republican senators to advance the gun control legislation currently before the Senate. The 80-page gun-control measure moved ahead on a vote of 64 to 34, a vote taken an hour after the negotiators of the bill had released its details.
The National Rifle Association has come out against the bill, saying the group will support legislation that improves school security, promotes mental health services, and helps reduce violent crime, but the NRA said the bill falls short.
“However, we will oppose this gun control legislation because it falls short at every level. It does little to truly address violent crime while opening the door to unnecessary burdens on the exercise of Second Amendment freedom by law-abiding gun owners,” the NRA said.
The legislation can be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases, infringe upon the rights of law-abiding Americans, and use federal dollars to fund various gun control measures being adopted by state and local entities, the NRA said, leaving too much discretion in the hands of government officials. It also contains undefined and over broad provisions – inviting interference with constitutional freedoms.
“Decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States in the Heller and McDonald cases make clear that the Second Amendment is an individual constitutional freedom. We will always fight for those freedoms – and the fundamental values we have defended for over 150 years,” the NRA said.
The NAACP took the opposite approach, praising the bill as a step in the right direction and asking Congress to pass it swiftly.
“We are encouraged with the outcome of the bipartisan effort. This bill will save lives and we urge Congress to bring it to the President’s desk promptly,” said NAACP President Derrick Johnson’s statement.
Alaska Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka issued remarks critical of Murkowski’s vote:
“Time after time, Lisa Murkowski demonstrates why people on both sides of important issues just don’t trust her. When she visits Alaska, she pretends to be a friend of the 2nd Amendment, but when she’s in Washington, D.C., she sides with the elites and the insiders and votes against the interests of law-abiding Alaskans. At least Democrat Pat Chesbro is honest about her support for restricting the rights of our citizens, so you know where she stands,” Tshibaka said.
“The lawful ownership of firearms is part of who we are as Alaskans, both for hunting and for self-defense. Perhaps Murkowski missed the part of the 2nd Amendment where it says, ‘shall not be infringed.’ After 21 years in the Senate for Murkowski, there is no question that it’s time for a change. When I’m the next senator from Alaska, I will always fight for the constitutional rights of our people, and I will always defend the 2nd Amendment,” Tshibaka said.
Among its provisions, the bill incentivizes states to pass red flag laws and requires background and mental health checks for 18- to 21-year-olds.
Tshibaka is challenging Murkowski from the right; both are Republicans, but Murkowski is a centrist who often votes with Democrats.
Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson today has selected Mario Bird as the Anchorage Municipal Attorney, and Michael Braniff as the Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Courtney Petersen as the director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Bird will replace Patrick Bergt, who joined Alaska Communications. Bird was born in Soldotna, Alaska and graduated from Nikiski High School. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor of arts in film (magna cum laude). He received his juris doctor from the Ave Maria School of Law (magna cum laude) in Naples, Florida and served on the Ave Maria Law Review. He has been a practicing attorney for 10 years. Prior to pursuing a legal career, he worked as a photographer and editor for The Alaska Channel and as a teacher and coach for Holy Rosary Academy.
Braniff will replace Josh Durand who will be moving with his family to Colorado. Braniff is a graduate of University of Alaska Fairbanks with a degree in Business Administration with a focus in Management and Operations. He has worked 16 years in the public and private sectors, including 13 years managing work projects and activities with parks throughout Anchorage.
Petersen will replace Cheryl Frasca who retired in May. Petersen was raised in Dutch Harbor, Alaska and has worked in accounting and purchasing in Minnesota and Alaska. She has worked as a budget analyst for the past 15 years including nine with Municipality of Anchorage in the Office of Management and Budget.
“I appreciate the hard work, dedication, and commitment that Cheryl, Patrick, and Josh displayed in their roles for the Municipality of Anchorage,” Bronson said. “I thank them and their families for their sacrifices to make our city a better place. I look forward to the additions of Courtney, Mario, and Michael to the administration and seeing them display their skillsets for the benefit of the Municipality.”
The Mayor’s appointees will be submitted to the Anchorage Assembly for approval.
In the August special general election to decide a U.S. House representative for Alaska, there will be only three names for the ranked-choice ballot. Not four.
A decision today by the Division of Elections thwarts the plans of some who wish to have fifth-place candidate Tara Sweeney move into the fourth place position on the August special general election ballot for Congress, now that one of the four top finishers has dropped out.
The sudden exit of third-place Al Gross, who had earned 18,936, or 12.65% of the vote during the special primary election to replace Congressman Don Young, created a dilemma: Did Ballot Measure 2, which muddied the election laws in Alaska in 2020, intend for a fifth-place finisher to be able to move up if one of the top four quit or died after a special primary election? Does that slot on the ranked-choice ballot remain blank? Or does it contain the quitter’s name? According to the Division of Elections, it remains blank. Three continue on.
Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai said, in an explanation, that Gross’ name will be removed, as requested, from the ballot for the special general election. But “Because this withdrawal occurred less than 64 days before the election, Alaska law does not permit the fifth-place candidate to advance.”
She cited Alaska Statute 15.25.100(c), which says, “if a candidate nominated at the primary election … withdraws … after the primary election and 64 or more days before the general election, the vacancy shall be filled by the director by replacing the withdrawn candidate with the candidate who received the fifth most votes in the primary election.”
Fenumiai said that any party wishing to challenge her ruling should do so quickly because the Division requires a final determination from the courts by noon on June 28 in order to print the ballots in time to meet state and federal deadlines and keep the special general election on schedule to be combined with the regular Aug. 16 primary.
Former congressional candidate Al Gross issued a statement to his supporters on Tuesday morning, with an explanation as to why he has quit the race to replace the late Congressman Don Young: “It’s too hard to run as a nonpartisan.”
“I am a lifelong Alaskan with a passion for this state and its people. I know that polarizing partisanship is not how solutions are achieved. It takes leadership and work. Unfortunately, Alaska and America are stuck right now, and Monica and I have decided it is just too hard to run as a nonpartisan candidate in this race. I still believe that when people with differing opinions listen to each other and work together, problems get solved. Maybe we can reach that place sometime in the future. I hope we do,” Gross wrote.
Gross talked in generalities about what is needed in the U.S. Capitol: fixing inflation, ending partisan gridlock, and engaging in less grandstanding. He outlined points important to him, including bringing government spending under control and expanding Alaska’s role in defense. But wants to expand free health care to all, preserve abortion rights of Roe v. Wade, and legalize pot.
Gross appeared to be campaigning hard and was in third place behind Sarah Palin and Nick Begich right up until the moment he pulled the plug on Monday afternoon, when his campaign first leaked news to a left-leaning blogger that he was pulling out of the race.
By evening, he had posted a short and carefully worded statement of withdrawal from the race for Congress. He gave no explanation.
Gross had earlier agreed to caucus with the Democrats in Congress, but that was not enough for the Alaska Democratic Party, which took to social media to call him a “proven loser,” who could not even win a seat on his local Petersburg hospital board and who had lost to Sen. Dan Sullivan in 2020.
By the time he filed his mid-May campaign finance report with the Federal Elections Commission, he had raised over half a million dollars in funds, much of it from social media, where he said he was taking on the “quitter” Sarah Palin.
Palin issued a statement in response to the news encouraging all of his supporters to take a look at her candidacy”
“Nothing should surprise voters in this unconventional election. In many aspects, new voting systems are confusing at best, and not conducive to growing voter turnout. However, let’s not let that dampen enthusiasm to get government on the right track.
“Al Gross was the top democrat vote-getter. His quitting the race leads to much speculation as to motive, but I’ll leave the speculating to others. My mission is to continue connecting with all Alaskans on the issues most important to our families and businesses, along with strengthening relationships our State needs in order to get nationwide Congressional support for Alaska’s interests.
“I welcome the new addition to the top four, and am excited to continue campaigning on resource development, lower fuel costs, affordable groceries, ensuring individual rights… all to create a brighter future for all Alaskans.
“Now that Al Gross supporters lost their candidate, I hope they will take a look at where I stand on the issues, and how I will never stop fighting for the greatest state in the Union,” she said.
Must Read Alaska has a query on file with the Division of Elections to learn what the process is for deciding if Sweeney can slide into the fourth slot on the special election ballot.
Meanwhile, the group promoting Tara Sweeney for Congress was on Monday afternoon busy asking the Division of Elections to put Sweeney on the fourth spot on the ballot.
The news began with startled text messages around Alaska Monday afternoon. With less than a week to go before candidates can drop their efforts to win election to the highest offices in the land, a massive shakeup throttled the race for the state’s lone seat in the United States Congress.
Al Gross, the son of a former state attorney general and the Democratic Party’s standard bearer for the United States Senate race in 2020, suddenly and suspiciously dropped his bid to succeed the late Congressman Don Young.
Earlier this month Gross had fetched the most votes from Alaskans on the center to left side of the political spectrum during the first ever jungle primary system.
An Al Gross ad that ran four days before he pulled out of the race.
Former Gov. Sarah Palin topped the rankings, followed by first-time candidate Nick Begich, who combined nearly half of all eligible votes. Gross and former state legislator Mary Peltola rounded out what was shaping up to be the four options in August for the special general election.
Gross entered the race with the highest name recognition of any non-conservative candidate. Coupled with the scar tissue of a recent bout at the ballot box, Gross had activated his network throughout all corners of the state, as evidenced by the cropping up of his campaign signs throughout liberal Alaskan bastions.
Those campaign signs are now headed for the crawl space. In a prepared statement Monday afternoon, Gross all but encouraged his supporters to go for either Mary Peltola or Tara Sweeney. Both are prominent Alaska Native women.
Sweeney, the highest ranking Alaska Native to hold office in the federal government, was an undersecretary for the Department of Interior under President Donald Trump. Sweeney finished 5th in the rankings during the special primary election, though at a considerable distance from Peltola. The assumption in Gross’ statement is, by withdrawing from the race, Sweeney will automatically be elevated to the next spot, and therefore eligible for the special election in August.
If it’s true that Gross has allowed Sweeney to ascend to fourth place, Monday’s announcement likely harkens to one of the great political maneuvers in the past decade. Sweeney, a registered Republican, is the proverbial darling of resource development organizations throughout Alaska. Her empassioned advocacy on behalf of the North Slope and the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation put her distinctly at odds with the crunchy environmentalism that defined Gross’ campaigns. One of the few things either camp had in common were relationships to opponents of the Pebble Mine project in western Alaska.
Those opponents share something else in common: an affection and devotion to the current senior senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski, an incumbent since 2002 when she was appointed by her father, the outgoing U.S. senator and incoming Gov. Frank Murkowski, has made no secret of her opposition to the large gold and copper deposit. Some of Murkowski’s most vigorous supporters have pointed to Murkowski’s staunch resistance to the project as proof of her independent bona fides. Those same supporters are some of Sweeney’s greatest surrogates.
What was made abundantly clear this week is that, though the news is about the congressional race, the story is how these events are colluding to assist in the race for the United States Senate.
The parallels to the circumstances that kept Murkowski in office and conspiring to install Sweeney are eerie. In 2010, after she lost the Republican Primary to Joe Miller, Murkowski launched a write-in campaign. With support from centrist Republicans, Democrats, and a huge turnout of the Alaska Native vote terrified of a Miller senatorial career, Murkowski won the first write-in for Senate since Strom Thurmond in 1948.
That victory untethered Murkowski from the Republican party, and to a new ad hoc coalition that composed eccentric bedfellows. Byron Mallott, a future lieutenant governor (before resigning under sexual harrassment allegations) was her write-in campaigning co-chair, as was former Republican state legislator Andrew Halcro.
By the time she faced re-election again in 2016, Murkowski had laid the groundwork to crowd out a primary challenge, assisted by the massive war chest her coalition had helped swell. However, Miller returned as a Libertarian to fetch the second highest vote count in the state. That same election saw the upset of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton for President, and the beginning of a collision course with the Alaskan senior Senator.
Despite working on the landmark Tax Reform of 2017 which, among other achievements, opened up ANWR to oil and gas exploration, Murkowski waged an open war on the former President Donald Trump. Those skirmishes included denouncing the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, and ultimately voting to impeach President Trump in 2021. These, combined with other bouts, brought the mercurial American President into the Alaskan orbit, and with a targeted vengeance for Murkowski.
Murkowski’s supporters and powerful proxies anticipated a hard fought primary in 2022, her next scheduled election. In 2020, a ballot initiative narrowly passed the Alaskan public into law.
Characterized as a reform to make elections more accessible for independents, the initiative, written by lawyers openly allied with Murkowski, have the effect of gutting the traditional party primary, and coupling it with the ranked choice general election. During the 2020 debates, the initiative, opposed by both Republican and Democratic party officials, was seen as an obvious ploy by Murkowski to protect her from a repeat of her defeat in 2010.
This year, Murkowski faces Kelly Tshibaka. A Harvard Law School graduate and former Inspector General and state commissioner, Tshibaka represents Murkowski’s most formidable opponent to date. Tshibaka also has the seal of approval from President Trump, and much of the Republican Party faithful. Despite that, Murkowski is looking to the benefits of the new election law to assist her, relying on the coalition of centrists, soft liberals, Alaska Native allies, and trade association Republicans to carry her.
A massive distortion that could affect this would be the turnout in any other race, drawing in voters who would likely also be skeptical of retaining the sitting senator. Enter Sarah Palin.
The former governor and vice presidential candidate and no fan of Murkowski herself, Palin stormed into the top of the polls after entering the race on the very last eligible day. It was Palin’s support from the sidelines in 2010 that heavily tilted against Murkowski. Over a decade later, it is clear that a Congressional race with huge enthusiasm from the populist right has the chance to swamp into the Senate race, and give Tshibaka the edge she needs.
The only way this dynamic would change is if traditional Murkowski voters had a candidate they could support financially and at the ballot box.
Unfortunately, that candidate was Sweeney, who despite record levels of fundraising, came up short in the primary. Barring a massive change, Sweeney appeared to be blocked from August, and with that likely the general elections as well.
Sweeney’s parallels with Murkowski run deep. The political consultants who have orbited the D.C. circles of the Senator are around the Sweeney Camp. It goes even deeper, with Sweeney and her husband at various points either working for Murkowski or being supported by the Senator for federal posts. Sweeney is the Murkowski camp’s candidate, and it was crucial for her to have another shot at populating the Congressional ballot.
It will likely never be known what is the true story behind Gross’ sudden departure. Perhaps his public statement can be taken at face value, and the Bear Doctor who was an idol of the Lincoln Project sincerely wants to clear the path for two prominent Alaska Native Women. But the facts on the ground point to different circumstances. Something was suddenly — over the weekend — very persuasive to Gross and in politics that usually means an opposition research file.
What happens next seems clear: The Senate race will have a proxy war open up in the Congressional race, as camp Sweeney and camp Murkowski can now overtly join forces for a D.C. centric ticket that appeals to centrist voters. With less than 6,000 votes that went her way in the primary, however, Sweeney has her work cut out for her.
The Republican territory in the conservative bastions have already been split between the Palin and Begich camps. And Peltola, the farther-left Alaska Native candidate, performed the best with the least amount of financial backing. The resources that will now be brought to bear to raise Sweeney up will be on another level.
All the events Monday affirmed the concerns of opponents of the new electoral system brought by Ballot Measure 2, thanks to “Alaskans for Better Elections.”
By having more candidates and variables through the jungle primary and ranked choice general, the options for political operatives to engage in legalized gamesmanship — or worse — has never been higher. Voters know less today about who is asking to represent them in Congress than at any time in the state’s history.
It is hard to say that Alaska now has better elections.
Ballot Measure 2 was supposed to make elections less dirty. It does not seem to have done that. Al Gross is pulling out of the race for Congress due to personal reasons, and he is throwing his support to two Native women candidates.
Gross, the third top-vote getter in the special primary election, will drop his name from the regular primary election ballot and throw his support to Mary Peltola, a Democrat, and Tara Sweeney, the Republican who was formerly in fifth place. It’s the hope of the Sweeney campaign that she will be able to move into fourth place.
Others appearing on the Aug. 16 ballot are Sarah Palin and Nick Begich.
Gross had received 12.65% of the vote by Friday’s count by the Division of Elections. Here’s where the leaders were as of Friday:
Palin: 41,302, 27.59%
Begich: 28,859, 19.27%
Gross: 18,936, 12.65%
Peltola: 14,133, 9.44%
Sweeney: 8,671, 5.79%
With Gross leaving the race, that makes three Republicans and one Democrat on the Aug. 16 special general election ballot, which will be decided by ranked choice voting.
The reasons for Gross’ sudden departure are unclear. Word is that former staffers from his 2020 campaign against Sen. Dan Sullivan have turned on him and are providing material that could be used for blackmail. Politicos say that political operative, lawyer, and author of Ballot Measure 2 Scott Kendall, who is part of the team supporting Sweeney, is behind the entire operation. Kendall has threatened a lawsuit over this crossed-through statement unless it is retracted and an apology is issued. In the interest of the solvency of Must Read Alaska, an apology is issued and the statement is retracted.
Gross had returned from a trip to Asia after the death of Congressman Don Young, and quickly joined a crowded field of 47 other candidates who hoped to replace Young.
He filed as an nonpartisan candidate and pledged to caucus with the Democrats. But his fall from grace may be a combination of the dislike of him by the the Alaska Democratic Party, and an opposition research file on his personal life by some other campaign group.
Gross, who is a surgeon by day, ran for Senate against Sen. Dan Sullivan in 2020. He had been savaged by the Alaska Democratic Party after losing to Sullivan; the party endorsed Chris Constant and Mary Peltola.
Gross had just been endorsed by IBEW 1547 on Friday, and had started raising money through an aggressive social media-based campaign to beat Sarah Palin over the weekend. He was also at a brewery over the weekend, taking pictures and posting them on social media. It appears that his campaign melted down quickly after that.
Whether Sweeney can actually be slipped into the top four is unclear. Ballot Measure 2 says that the fifth candidate can only be put in the final four if the withdrawal of one of the four happens within 64 days; it may be that Kendall thinks he found the loophole in the law that he wrote and that voters approved in 2020.
The Department of Law will be reviewing the matter on Tuesday, MRAK has learned.
The Division of Elections will be conducting the final count of ballots in the special primary election on Tuesday, June 21, and plans to certify the election on June 25. What is now uncertain is what may happen if there are lawsuits over the ability of Sweeney to join the final four that will appear on the Aug. 16 ballot.
Anchorage Assemblyman Chris Constant was not an invited speaker at the 2022 Juneteenth event at the Delaney Park Strip on Saturday. But that didn’t stop him: He grabbed the microphone and, to a crowd of celebrants marking the end of slavery in America, went through a checklist of things that “white men” who are “privileged” can to do make up for the inequities of America.
The organizers, according to numerous sources, were uncomfortable with what were characterized to Must Read Alaska as inappropriate remarks for the occasion, remarks that appeared to be directed at Mayor Dave Bronson.
Indeed, Constant spoke after Bronson had welcomed the crowd of hundreds who were enjoying food booths, music, and family time in recognition of the anniversary of General Order No. 3 by Union Army Gen. Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas, the last enslaved people in the continental United States. (Slavery persisted among the Tlingit Indians in Alaska until the early 1900s.) It was generally a joyful occasion marred only by the one speaker — Constant — who had to focus on racism, rather than emancipation.
It’s not the first time Constant has made a group uncomfortable. In 2020, an Anchorage rabbi testified that a planned drug rehab/homeless center at the Golden Lion Hotel was not compatible with the nearby Jewish Center preschool program. Assembly member Constant then brought up Nazi Germany and asked the rabbi to comment on whether the homeless were like the Jews under the Nazis, who should be rounded up and put behind a fence. Members of the Jewish community expressed dismay at his pointed remarks toward the rabbi, and in a subsequent week, Constant apologized.
The international swimming federation announced a new rule that says transgender women who have gone through male puberty may not compete in elite women’s swimming competitions.
FINA’s rule was finalized Sunday. It is in response to the increasing number of men competing as women in swimming competitions, a trend that has led legislatures around the country and even local school districts such as the Mat-Su Borough School District in Alaska to establish rules, guidelines, and laws protecting female athletes from physically advantaged males who have gone through chemical or surgical transformations to present themselves and compete as females.
FINA began reworking its rules in response to the International Olympic Committee, which issued a new “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Non-Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” in November, encouraging all international federations to develop eligibility criteria for the women’s competition category “that reflect the specificities of their particular sports but that include to the maximum extent possible athletes who, without regard to their sex or sex-linked traits, identify as women.”
The vote by FINA effectively bans transgenders from competing in women’s categories unless they began medical treatments to suppress production of testosterone before puberty, or by age 12, whichever happens later. The rules are at this link.
The FINA delegates heard from two Olympic swimming champions, Summer Sanders and Kate Campbell, who advocated for fairness for women. Their testimony can be seen at this link.
“Historically, Aquatics sport has been separated into men’s and women’s competition categories. The separation reflects the sport’s commitment to: (1) ensuring equal opportunity for both male and female athletes to participate and succeed in the sport, including through the equal representation in its programs and competitions of athletes of both biological sexes; (2) ensuring competitive fairness and physical safety within its competition categories; and (3) developing the sport and promoting its popular appeal and commercial value. Because of the performance gap that emerges at puberty between biological males as a group and biological females as a group, separate sex competition is necessary for the attainment of these objectives. Without eligibility standards based on biological sex or sex-linked traits, we are very unlikely to see biological females in finals, on podiums, or in championship positions; and in sports and events involving collisions and projectiles, biological female athletes would be at greater risk of injury,” FINA explained in its new rule.
Transitioning before puberty creates serious health and ethical challenges. Side effects from medications include infertility, and a higher risk for heart disease or diabetes later in life. Blood clots are a risk for those who start estrogen. Individuals who attempt to switch gender identities are saddled with a lifetime of medications, often paid for by taxpayers, to maintain the physical characteristics they are seeking.
Some children begin puberty as young as eight years old. For all children, an ethical question is raised about whether a child is qualified to determine a new gender identity for themselves, an identity that has lifetime implications.
“The Science Group [of FINA] reported that biological sex is a key determinant of athletic performance, with males outperforming females in sports (including Aquatics sports) that are primarily determined by neuromuscular, cardiovascular, and respiratory function, and anthropometrics including body and limb size. The extent of the male/female performance gap varies by sport and competition, but the gap universally emerges starting from the onset of puberty. The group reported that there are sex-linked biological differences in Aquatics, especially among elite athletes, that are largely the result of the substantially higher levels of testosterone to which males are exposed from puberty onwards. Prior to puberty, testosterone levels are similar in females and males. During puberty, however, testes-derived testosterone concentrations increase 20-fold in males, while testosterone concentrations remain low in females so that post-pubescent males have circulating testosterone concentrations at least 15 times higher than post-pubescent females (15-20 nmol/L in adult males versus c.1 nmol/L in typical females of any age). High testosterone levels generate not only anatomical divergence in the reproductive system but also measurably different body types/compositions between sexes,” the new rule explains.
University of Kentuckyswimmer Riley Gaines, who tied with transgender UPenn swimmer Lia Thomasfor fifth place in an April NCAA 200-freestyle championship, applauded the decision to restrict Thomas and other transgender swimmers.
At the NCAA championships, Gaines (pictured above with transgender swimmer Thomas) was told by the NCAA that the fifth place trophy would be given to Thomas, and hers would be mailed to her later, even though there was a tie.
Earlier this year, Thomas, who had competed as a male at the collegiate level just two years before, took the top trophy at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships in the 500-yard. According to USA Swimming’s rule, no transgender athlete can compete in a women’s category prior to showing that his concentration of testosterone in serum has been less than 5 nmol/L continuously for 36 months prior to the competition. There is no rule that protects females from males who transition after male puberty has conferred physical advantages on them.
In the Alaska Legislature SB 140 by Sen. Shelley Hughes would have protected girls’ athletics; introduced last year, it failed to make progress through the Senate and was ultimately tabled, as liberal senators outmaneuvered Hughes on her attempts to protect female athletics from being overtaken by transgenders in Alaska.
In school districts in Alaska, the policies vary by community. While the Mat-Su School District has put biological sideboards on some sports, the Anchorage School District allows boys to compete in girls’ divisions if they choose. A young boy is now signed up to compete in a track and field competition in one of the Anchorage middle schools, and transgenders have competed against girls in other communities in Alaska.
In 2020, a 29-year-old transgender Alaskan, born male but with the help of drugs living as a woman, was the first transgender athlete to compete in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in Atlanta.
Megan Youngren qualified for the women’s marathon trials by placing 40th in Sacramento at the California International Marathon, and then competed in the Olympic marathon trial in 2021. Younger had started taking female hormones just two years earlier, and brought with him all the lung capacity, musculature, bone density, and lean mass of a fully mature male who was suppressing testosterone in order to compete with women.
