There are likely to be a lot of names on the primary ballot for Alaska’s lone congressional seat next year. Congressman Don Young’s name will probably be one of them, as he announced earlier this year to run for reelection.
Many will claim they are Republican. Many, like Gregg Brelsford.
Brelsford says he is a new kind of Republican running for Congress against Congressman Young.
At 72, Brelsford says a lot of things about the Republican Party, but according to recent voter records, he is an “undeclared” voter and has been a Democrat in the past, when he lived in Utah, for instance. MRAK can find no trace of him being registered as a Republican until July 5, when he used the Republican pedigree in his filing with the Federal Elections Commission.
“I refuse to be a Republican who stays silent as many in our party chip away at our state and national ideals for petty, self-interested, short-term, goals. I am a principled, new generation, conservative,” he said on his Facebook announcement.
Brelsford, who is registered to vote in Anchorage but was recently an interim manager of the Bristol Bay Borough, isn’t the only challenger.
Randy Purham registered with the FEC several weeks ago to run for Alaska’s congressional seat, but he lists his mailing address and voting address as Killeen, Texas. That will take some explaining to voters.
Brelsford, if he continues his campaign, will have an uphill battle with traditional Republicans and conservatives in general. He’ll have to talk about his long history of donations to Democratic candidates for Congress, his maximum donation to Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president in 2007, and the $5,000 he gave to a political action committee for Hillary Clinton in 2008. All of those donations, and more up until 2017, were from him while he was living and working as an attorney in Utah.
If you’re wondering why we have these “new generation Republicans” look no further than the #AKLEG .
Where’s Vic Vickers? He should be showing up soon.
We never hear of a Republican masquerading as a Democrat to get elected in a Democrat district.
Should say: “I refuse to be a Democrat who stays silent as many in our party chip away at our state and national ideals for petty, self-interested, short-term, goals. I am a principled, new generation, conservative Democrat.”
I smell RINO poop…much. Pay attention Alaska!
Ranked voting was step 1. Now we will see a multitude of candidates to create conditions to manipulate the outcome of elections. Like a shell game. Alaska will go deep blue, regardless of what the citizens think about it. Our state GOP is so lazy and corrupt, they have no ability to respond coherently.
Only the most incompetent of state GOPs could ensure that the legislature of a RED STATE is controlled by liberals, year after year after year
New? This dweeb looks older than Don Young and Don is about 90. This nobody is better suited for examining alien life on Pluto. By the time he gets there, Don will be running for his 252nd term in Congress.
……….and still winning elections.
Thank you MRAK for keeping us informed, this is a huge problem in Alaska. We have been electing candidates that claim to be conservative republicans then they stab us in the back and join the democrat minority. There are many in Juneau right now.
This is the new paradigm.
The problem is that Don Young isn’t much better. Now that Prop 2 has passed he has been showing his true RINO colors, by supporting Deb Haaland and playing along with the Democrat Tax-And-Earmark Infrastructure plan. We need a real Constitutional Conservative to primary him out
Nowadays, “new’ = “WORSE”, almost always.
They’re out to dilute the GOP vote.
Mr. Brelsford is a sincere guy willing to be helpful when he can regardless of labels. He loves Alaska.
Until someone consistently, honestly is better then D. Young…we better stay with him regardless of what you’re preference is. With Rank Voting, we’re going to see many goats attempting to sneak in.; RINOS as well.
This is what Republicans need to start doing ASAP. Run as a Democrat, say all the right wokisms and enact conservative policies. Guarantee they’d be hailed by the left for policies normally championed by the GOP because Democrats can’t help but defend everyone with a (D) in front of their name.
Much of the substantive factual information in Suzanne’s July 6, 2021 article is accurate and I respect Suzanne for her research. What is missing is that I ran as a Republican for the Alaska State House of Representatives in 1994. I became disillusioned with the direction and atmosphere of the party at some point after that. Now, as the article correctly notes, I am deeply concerned that the Republican party has veered off course. I seek to offer an alternative to many current Republican leaders’ and candidates’ unthinking attacks on democracy, voting, and the rule of law, and aversion to facts. Please see my website to learn more: http://www.alaskansforgregg.com
In what way has the Republican Party “veered off course,” specifically? To which Republican leaders and candidates are you referring? In what ways do they have an “aversion to facts”? How have these Republicans attacked democracy and voting? These are all generalized attacks and I would like you to be specific about what exactly you mean.
Republicans of old gave us TSA; weaponized the FBI; built fema camps, supported the new world order deep state, gun providers, providing an efficient marketplace for illegal transport of vulnerable people, and secretive sales of weapons and their ingredients, while looking the other way while Americans were harmed by the implemented intentions of international monarchs and ancient alliances. So, some repubs have said: Restore the Constitution and our guaranteed republic and America First. Democrats said. “We are smarter than you are” go ahead vote for Trump Jiden won. Change your sex and things and we will cordially make your neighbor pay. And, here’s some new illegal aliens and we’re giving ’em $5000 each month from your social security paid in funds. We’ll tell you about it later if the communists want us to. Which is best.
I can’t tell if G Aleutian is Gregg’s drunken alter-ego or if it’s a supporter who thinks they’re helping him. Either way, uh.. it’s not helping.
Your website says nothing about your stance on issues. Cool thing is, you can tell a broad swath of your would-be supports right here on this forum.
Your website also doesn’t explain why you’ve been donating to the causes undercutting democracy and the rule of law (i.e. ActBlue facilitated donations to bail out Antifa protestors, supports massive gun control and confiscation policies, facilitates donations to groups fighting simple election integrity policies like voter ID, which btw a majority of Americans, including minorities, support).
You donated to Hillary Clinton, for goodness sake. You’re one of those odd ducks old enough to know her political history thoroughly, but somehow despite all of that, see fit to shovel her money. It implies a bit of the blind eye when condemning political malfeasance here but not there.
Your dog-whistle accusations of Republicans (attacks on democracy, voting, rule of law, aversion to facts) could easily be leveled against Democrats as well. It says a lot when you make sweeping generalizations like this without any nuance – it implies you are blind to the offenses of Democrats in these areas.
Why don’t you be very clear and explicit about where you stand on the following issues:
* Voter ID
* Accepting ballots post-marked after election day
* Right to work; mandatory union dues payments
* Mandatory ABA membership/payments (in light of recent ruling in 5th Circuit)
* Your thoughts on the “peaceful protests” last year
* Your thoughts on Jan. 6th
* Your thoughts on media and tech censorship during the 2020 general election (i.e. NYP story on Hunter Biden)
* Your thoughts on Joe Biden’s performance as president compared to Donald Trump
* Alaska’s revenue issues and solutions (taxation? kill the PFD? both?)
* Do you advocate for or against Chipman’s nomination for the ATF director position?
* Your site says you’re an NRA member. Are you a life member of the NRA? If so, when did you start your life membership? Are you also a member of GOA or SAF? How long?
* Pebble mine? Keystone XL? What went right, what went wrong?
* Mining in Alaska for rare earth metals?
* Railroad to move Canadian coal?
* Proposals for federal UBC laws and the “model” red flag laws issued by current admin?
* What are you hoping to see decided in the upcoming SCOTUS term?
* Why did you donate to ActBlue and Clinton? Were you just currying favors or did you believe in their policy positions? Who were you donating to in 2016 election? How about 2020?
* Would you caucus with Republicans or with Democrats? While in office, would you change to an independent or other political affiliation?
* 1619 Project: Truth or Fiction?
If it’s hard for you to answer these questions explicitly, regardless on which side you come down on, you are probably not fit to represent people as an honest broker.
1994, need I remind you, was very nearly three decades ago. If it even mattered that you lost an election as a Republican way back then, what you’ve done in the intervening years doesn’t exactly paint a good picture. The problem with Republicans in this country is that for too long they’ve been apologizing for their common-sense issues on the rule of law and liberty. Your employment record and donation record indicates that even if you are a Republican, it’s in name only. What can you speak to in your history in last two decades (in specifics, not dog whistles) that would burnish your credentials? To be blunt: why should conservatives vote for a Clinton-donating, ActBlue-supporting politician to go to D.C. as a junior representative? How do the people win in that scenario?
BTW, seriously interested in your questions to that list above. Let’s not laugh it off. Do the work.
Gregg, aversion to facts? Unthinking attacks? Voter qualifications? Care to elaborate? I understand that you are an Attorney so I hasten to point out that this Country is not a Democracy but a Constitutional Republic. Democracy is where 51% of the voters take the other 49%’s property,( cool stuff) and liberties. Your soundbite seems better suited to folks in another party. Please reply Sir.
The process of elections are so unscrupulous, full of lies and immoral actions, that good conservatives don’t want to have their name or that of their friends and family drug through the mud to compete. So what we are left with is a conservative, in name only, that halfway appeases both sides before the election while political maneuvering (bribes, entrapment, greed) brings them farther to the left after election.
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