The co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee is retiring from office after 12 years in the Alaska State Legislature. Sen. Anna MacKinnon will spend more time with family, she told Steve Quinn of KTVA.
The Eagle River Republican who has served as co-chair of Finance for four years is known for hard work, methodical attention to detail, making tough calls, and unflinching transparency.
But as a wife and grandmother, she has other things in mind for the coming years.
MacKinnon served on the Anchorage Assembly before running for District 17 House in 2006. She challenged Pete Kott, who was embroiled in a corruption probe and ended up going to prison.
In 2008, MacKinnon was re-elected with 6,857 votes, while Democrat Bill Gossweiler received 1,675 votes.
In 2012, she took on Sen. Bettye Davis, and with redistricting having changed the demographics of District G, she moved into the Senate.
She and John MacKinnon married in 2014 and she changed her last name from Fairclough to MacKinnon. Both have children and grandchildren across the Northwest.
Political observers earlier this year noted that she had not filed for re-election, nor had she indicated that she would.
Rep. Lora Reinbold of Eagle River is likely to file for the Senate seat. When Must Read Alaska spoke with her earlier this year, she said she would defer discussion of that until after the session concludes. Others who might file include Rep. Dan Saddler.
