QUITS WORKING FOR REP. PARISH, FILES AGAINST HIM?
(Update: Rep. Justin Parish has endorsed Rob Edwardson for his seat for District 34.)
Robert Edwardson, a Juneau assemblyman and former aide to Juneau Rep. Justin Parish, has filed as a candidate for State House of Representatives for District 34.
That’s the office that Parish won just a year and a half ago. Edwardson, who joined Parish’s staff immediately after Parish was elected in 2016, resigned only recently.
Parish, a Democrat, filed in January for the Mendenhall Valley and “Out the Road” portion of the City and Borough of Juneau. And he has nearly $13,000 in his campaign account, which is not a small amount for Juneau.
Now, his aide has filed as well? He answered the question mid-morning on April 24 on Facebook:
WHO IS EDWARDSON?
Edwardson is 53 years old and a registered nonpartisan. But he’s clearly a partisan, regardless of his label and would likely caucus with the Democrats. He has also skipped the usual step involving a “letter of intent” filing, which allows candidates to raise money and explore a race. He simply filed as a declared candidate, but as a nonpartisan he can now run in the Democrats’ primary, or he can collect signatures and appear on the ballot separately.
In October, Edwardson unseated Debbie White for the Assembly District 2 seat.
Originally from Ketchikan, Edwardson came to Juneau with the Coast Guard. He also worked as cruise ship program manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and as a Southeast Alaska regional manager for the Division of Mining, Land and Water at the Department of Natural Resources.
He and Parish are not the only one running for Parish’s position: Jerry Nankervis filed earlier this year. Nankervis retired from the Juneau Police Department after 24 years and has been serving on the Assembly, where he is deputy mayor of Juneau. He’s also a commercial fisherman, and hockey coach with an extensive record of volunteering.
[Read: Nankervis files for House]
District 34 was represented by Cathy Munoz from 2009 to 2017. She also rose to the Legislature from a position on the Assembly. A moderate Republican, area Democrats did the math on their district and targeted her for removal in 2016, painting her as soft on crime.