Former Sen. Cathy Giessel, a Republican trying to win back her seat in the Alaska Senate, appeared at a shared event with Matt Claman, who is a hardline Democrat running against Republican Sen. Mia Costello. The event took place in Girdwood on Monday evening at a private home.
This is not the first betrayal of the Republican Party by Giessel, who is also a campaign co-chair for former Gov. Bill Walker, who is not currently registered to vote in either major party.
Giessel took a hardened position against the Permanent Fund dividend and against Gov. Mike Dunleavy, immediately after he became governor. While Giessel was once pro-Permanent Fund and criticized Walker for stealing Alaskans’ share of oil royalties, she has tacked to the left and says that Walker is the right candidate. She also has come out in opposition to a constitutional convention.
Voters removed Giessel in 2020, replacing her with Sen. Roger Holland in what was Seat N, but is now called Seat E. Giessel was one of seven Republicans who lost primary elections for legislative seats in 2020, as voters were fed up with how the Legislature was handling the Permanent Fund dividend.
Due to the magic of ranked choice voting, however, with Giessel now aligned with the far left, she can collect all the Democrat votes from candidate Roselynn Cacy during the second round of counting, if Holland does not win with a 50+1 majority.
As for Claman, he is one of the farthest-left members of the House of Representatives in the Alaska Legislature, and is now challenging Sen. Costello for a newly drawn district, now called Senate Seat H, that may be more difficult for her to win. It stretches up into the super-liberal Turnagain neighborhoods of West Anchorage, where Claman signs have sprouted like dandelions.
Costello has been a committed crime-fighter, leading the charge to roll back SB 91, the catch-and-release bill that was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by former Gov. Walker. That law, which reformed bail and sentencing, led to a massive crime wave across Alaska until Costello forced a repeal measure out of committee so that it could be voted on by the Senate. Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed a repeal the following year. While Costello and Claman had both voted for SB 91, Costello realized the damage it was doing to Alaska and took action, and political risk to get the law repealed, while Claman fought to keep SB 91 in law.
In an opinion piece in the Anchorage Daily News, Claman defended the crime-creating SB 91.
“Public safety has always been an essential government service in our country. ‘Repeal SB 91’ is just an empty bumper-sticker phrase that misleads the public and detracts from the legislature’s bipartisan work since 2014,” Claman wrote.
Claman says Alaskans want a reasonable PFD and no new taxes, but in an Anchorage Chamber forum, he sees that as a choice — a the only way to avoid taxes is to have a small PFD. He is also on record supporting new taxes — he has sponsored income tax legislation, and voted for new taxes.
