George Rauscher filed for District 9 House, the seat he now serves in.
On Tuesday, Must Read Alaska culled information from the latest string of candidates for office.
Read the Tuesday details here. Remember to check Must Read Alaska for updates and a spreadsheet soon.
Wednesday’s filings include:
Senate Seat M –Assemblyman Felix Rivera is filing as a Democrat for the seat being vacated by Sen. Kevin Meyer.
His filing paperwork is not posted yet, but Sen. Berta Gardner sent out a note to that effect.
Rep. Chris Birch and Bekah Halat are Republican candidates for Seat M, South Anchorage. Hunter Dunn is the other Democrat.
Senate Seat Q – There are more ins-and-outs here. Larry Cotter, who filed several weeks ago for the General Election as a petition candidate for the Juneau Senate seat, is out. That leaves Don Etheridge as a petition candidate for the general and Democrat Jesse Kiehl for the primary, for the seat being vacated by Sen. Dennis Egan. Kiehl is Egan’s legislative aide and is on the Assembly. Etheridge is a former Assembly member. A poll shows Kiehl with a slight advantage over Etheridge, but with Cotter out, it’s a new ballgame.
District 5 – Kevin McKinley, a Republican, has filed against Rep. Adam Wool, the Democrat incumbent. Both business owners, McKinley owns a tattoo and piercing business, while Wool owns a nightclub.
District 9 – Rep. George Rauscher, who filed for Senate Seat E, has filed for his House seat (9), to leave Sen. Mike Shower a free lane to re-election for his seat, to which he was appointed when Mike Dunleavy resigned to run for governor. (Randall Kowalke is a Republican who has filed for Senate Seat E earlier this year).
Rauscher’s statement:
“Quite a few months ago, Senator Dunleavy vacated his Senate Seat to run for governor and I declared to run for his vacated Senate Seat E. Governor Walker appointed Mike Shower to fill the remaining portion of Senator Dunleavy’s term. Just recently Mike Shower has decided to run for that seat. It is in the best interest of my District, and the future of the both the House and the Senate, that each of us continue to serve in the seats we now hold. I look forward to representing District 9 all this summer with the same intensity, presence and effectiveness as I always have.”
Pam Goode, a Republican, has months ago filed for the District 9 seat, so this means a primary race. Goode ran for the seat in 2016 as a Constitution Party candidate.
Vicki Wallner, a leading community organizer in the Mat-Su, also filed for the seat yesterday. It’s unclear if she’ll remain in now that Rauscher has filed. She had been considered to fill the Senate seat vacated by Dunleavy, but Gov. Walker passed her over.
Immediately after Rauscher filed, his House Valley colleague, Rep. David Eastman, District 10, threw the full weight of his political action committee’s support for Pam Goode.
“The challenges Alaska faces today require changing not only the way we do business as a state, but also sending courageous men and women to Juneau We are pleased to announce our first endorsement of the 2018 election season. Pam Goode is a candidate who will put Alaskans first and has the courage to say ‘NO’ to the special interests in Juneau. She is running to represent the people of the Copper River Valley, Delta, and the Mat-Su in the Alaska House of Representatives,” Eastman wrote on Facebook on behalf of his Alaska Conservative Leadership PAC.
District 10 – Susan Kay, a Democrat, attempted to file for the House seat but was denied by Elections because she is not on file at the Alaska Public Offices Commission. Rookie mistake.
Rep. David Eastman, a Republican, holds that Mat-Su Valley conservative seat. Another Democrat, Patricia Faye-Brazel also filed, and Democrat Neal Lacy had already filed.
District 23 – Still no sign of Rep. Chris Tuck, the Democrat incumbent. Forrest McDonald and Connie Dougherty are the Republicans in the race.
District 31 – Rep. Paul Seaton has not filed nor said what party he is filling with.
District 32 – Dennis Harris, a Democrat, has filed candidate registration with Alaska Public Offices Commission, but the 27-year-old hasn’t said for which office. He lives in Kodiak and the seat available there is the one held by Louise Stutes, a nominal Republican. There is an undeclared petition candidate in the race, Sandra Katelnikoff-Lester, going to the general election. Interestingly, Dennis Harris as the same middle name “Paul” as the well-known Bernie Sanders-style Democrat of Juneau fame. But there’s a big age difference.
District 34 –Andi Story, a Democrat and school board member, is filing to run for the seat being vacated by Rep. Justin Parish, a North Juneau Democrat. She’ll file today at the Mendenhall Valley Library. Already in the race is undeclared Rob Edwardson, who is Parish’s legislative aide and is a nonpartisan hoping for the Democrats’ primary ballot, and retired police officer and Assembly member Jerry Nankervis, a Republican. It looks like Juneau Democrats think they have a better shot with Story than with Edwardson.
Check back with Must Read Alaska later today for more updates, and share this story on your Facebook feed.
Patricia Faye-Brazel would be an outstanding representative for District 10. Repeating the mistakes that have cost us so much already won’t fix the problems we have now and will continue to face. It is time for a change in the MatSu and the entire State.
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