Rep. Sara Rasmussen won’t run for reelection, leaving Democrat Rep. Matt Claman unopposed

By
Suzanne Downing
-
16

Rep. Sara Rasmussen is not going to run for reelection, she has told Republicans in her district.

The district she has been placed in through redistricting, now called District 16, puts her and Rep. Matt Claman, a Democrat, inside the same political boundaries. Rasmussen’s previous district was numbered D-22. The new district stretches from Turnagain down to Raspberry Road in Anchorage, leaning just slightly further to the left.

Claman is considering running against Sen. Mia Costello, who is the senator for that district.

Rasmussen came into office in 2018 and was reelected 2020. In 2021 she left the Republican majority and became a “caucus of one” who was an unreliable vote for Republicans and began spending more of there time with Democrats. She would have had an uphill battle in the new district she’s been drawn into by the Alaska Redistricting Board.

“The race is really tough for a Republican, and I just don’t have the energy to put into a campaign after 4 pretty draining years in Juneau. Please let me know how I can help whichever republican steps up to run for the seat. I’m happy to go door to door a few times, help cohost fundraisers or give any friendly advice the candidate is willing to take,” she wrote. She said time away from her children was a factor and “the last two weeks of session was just too much of a disruption for my family to put them through it again.”

Filing for the Aug. 16 primary has a June 1 deadline and as of this writing, no other candidate has emerged to challenge Claman.

16 COMMENTS

  3. Sara – if you think the last two weeks of the session was tough on you, Just imagine how tough last four years have been for the Republicans in your district?

  4. A famous line from J.R. in “Dallas:” “Once you’ve lost your integrity – the rest is easy.”

    • That should be enshrined in a plaque over the Capitol building. I would support an initiative to do just that. I don’t think signatures would be a problem.

  7. District 16 may not have always agreed with Rep. Rasmussen. But, the same can be said for any elected official. She deserves to step back with our thanks for her service.

    • Wait wut? The leg-wrestling, beer-ponging, ding-dong who left her republican colleagues high and dry and said she would be a caucus of one? The bimbo terrorist who betrayed the people who fought to get her elected? The back-stabber who called around our district only to find out that no one would put together a fundraiser for her? WTF, Brian.

      • Thank you, Celeste; your accurate description of Sara’s service to her constituents fully supports her decision to hang it up! It is an encouraging sign to see numerous sub- standard legislators making the same decision.

  9. Must Read is showing alaska republicans they don’t need to compromise with evil leaders to be effective.
    While democrats are
    manipulating and condescending to get what they want, republicans should know when and how to
    use arm wrangling/twisting
    against democrats not against other republicans like patriot eastman it doesn’t look
    good. Heres a toast of sparkling cider to the district to elect a real republican who will take the guy who hates marriage out.

  10. Let’s not be overly harsh about Ms. Sarah. She was a champion of spending hundreds of millions of dollars to fund the cash-for-credit scheme to buy back oil & gas exploration tax credits the State had gifted to oil exploration companies. That wasn5’t exactly a program and use of public money near and dear to the hearts of liberals. The dubious program to fund this buy back the credits with cash by borrowing a billion dollars was struck down by the Alaska Supreme Court as unconstitutional so Sarah the V stepped up and lead the charge to use general fund money to buy back the credits. Some said she was a shill for the credit holders. Hard to say, really. Mostly she acted confused a lot of the time. Oh well, we get what we deserve in this little experiment in democracy up here in the Lost Frontier.

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