Bernadette Wilson, a dynamic Alaskan who has tirelessly worked in Alaska’s political realm for 20 years, was the far-and-away winner of the Must Read Alaska Newsletter Question of the Week:
Who should run for governor?
The nonscientific survey only had space for five names. The names that MRAK chose for the five were some possible contenders: Mary Peltola, Adam Crum, Treg Taylor, Nancy Dahlstrom, and Bernadette Wilson.
With the exception of Wilson, all four others have campaigned for office and held high positions in government. Mary Peltola is the former House member for Alaska, Adam Crum is commissioner of Revenue and former commissioner of Health and Social Services, Treg Taylor is attorney general, and Nancy Dahlstrom is lieutenant governor.
Wilson is the only one who has never run for office.
Here are the final result of the three-day poll:
None of the names on the poll has actually filed for the 2026 race for Alaska governor, but all are known to be “kicking the tires” to see if they can mount a credible campaign. All on the poll are Republicans except for Peltola.
The question was sent to the 33,000 people who subscribe to the three-times-a-week newsletter, which generally is opened by about 14,000 recipients for each edition. The question ran in the March 31 and April 2 editions of the newsletter (subscribe here.) The newsletter subscribers are generally conservative, although there is a small but loyal readership among Democrat politicos, as seen in the results above, where Peltola received 4%.
Must Read Alaska newsletter readers might be described as the conservative super-voters of the state, and many are politically active in their communities.
Thus, it’s an interesting result to see that Wilson got more than double the support of the next contender — Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who ran for Congress last year but withdrew after the primary.
Who is Bernadette Wilson? She owns a garbage disposal company, is a single mother, and got her political start managing the 2010 Parental Notification Initiative, which won statewide with 56% of the vote. She has worked on several campaigns ever since, most recently as a senior advisor to the Nick Begich congressional race. In addition, she was the state director for Americans for Prosperity, and hosted a television show and a radio talk show (coincidentally, the co-host was Democrat Ethan Berkowitz.)
Wilson is known for organizing the People’s Memorial Day in 2020, when then-Mayor Ethan Berkowitz cancelled the Memorial Observance at the Veterans’ Memorial in Anchorage.
And she organized community action against the shut down of the Anchorage economy during Covid, and even held a “dance off” protest in front of the Loussac Library, as a protest to the Berkowitz ban on dancing in 2020, and later a convoy of trucks that rolled through downtown.
Is this Wilson’s time to run for office? Readers seem to think so.
There are other possible contenders for governor besides those five names. Must Read Alaska will have another Question of the Week with some of the other possibilities. You can vote in that poll in the Monday, April 7 and Wednesday, April 9 newsletter.
None of them!!
Guiddo. From Guiddo s pizza
I’d vote for her!!
Dahlstrom would just be another spineless RINO which would be a replay of what we already have.
In no particular order, how about Shelley Hughes, Ben Carpenter, Mike Shower?
I pretty much prefer someone with experience and a proven track record.
Yep. Any of these, none of the crap listed in the article.
Willy: Experience in the legislature doesn’t necessarily translate into the executive branch of government.
Bernadette for sure!
I would support her, just as so long as she does not support foreign owned pebble on red salmon spawning grounds, like Dunleavy did causing a rift with president Trump.
We need a maga fighter.
I was hoping for a “none of the above” button. Just throwing this out, maybe Shelley Hughes or Mike Shower.
If Nancy Dahlstrom runs I won’t vote for her, she hasn’t done nothing about our elections.
Jamie Allard
None of the above. Alaska can do better. We need a deeper talent search.
I’m sorry, but I only recognized a couple of the names in the list so I did not even vote. Bernadette Wilson, and the hard-core democrat ex-US representative.
Well, I think President Trump has proven that political experience is not necessarily a plus. As with his first term, he is showing the establishment that a businessman can run the government better than a politician. Maybe the states should give it a go?
Sorry, but I will NEVER forget Ms. Wilson running cover for Murky, trying to keep a journalist from asking questions of Murky. It was cringe inducing. Her opponent(s) should just run that bit of video on an endless loop.
Willy, your idea has been proven too fail.
Our current political system is awful and we need a new idea.
Seriously, who’s going to get behind the Crum kid?
The guy couldn’t even distribute food stamps with federal funds successfully. And didn’t Crum increase administrative costs by creating a new department with increasing efficiency and lowering costs?
Crum should a real job in the private sector instead of hanging around government.
Personally, I wish Mead Treadwell would throw his hat in the ring. He’d be an excellent candidate!
Frank Murkowski with running mate John Lindauer. Perfect fit for our Great State’s politics.
I would never vote for any Democrat. And Dahlstrom is not much better than her. The rest of the names were somewhat recognizable and of those Wilson was the most impressive. Alaska needs a 🔥MAGA governor who will be able to slap back the leftist nutjobs trying to turn AK blue.