By ZACK GOTTSHALL
When Region 2 Director Ryan Sheldon urged Republicans to “learn the game” after recent local election losses in Fairbanks, Palmer, and Ketchikan, he was not wrong — but he did not go far enough. The problem is not Ranked-Choice Voting or off-cycle elections. It is that the Alaska Republican Party has developed a crisis of courage.
We face a growing unwillingness among elected officials and Party leadership alike to confront wrongdoing, to enforce standards, or to stand firm when it matters most. Too many Republican officeholders — city, state, and federal — have drifted from the values they campaigned on, and too often, Party leadership stays silent.
When Representation Loses Its Backbone
Across Alaska, voters who identify as conservative feel increasingly unrepresented. They watch Republicans campaign as fiscal conservatives, defenders of liberty, and advocates for resource development — then compromise those same values once elected.
At the federal level, Senator Lisa Murkowski’s repeated breaks from core conservative positions have left voters disillusioned. At the state level, Republican legislators have joined coalitions that empower liberal leadership and increase state spending. And at the local level, some so-called conservatives have supported ordinances that expand bureaucracy or weaken law enforcement.
Each of these choices distances us from the Party’s foundation: limited government, fiscal restraint, and individual freedom. And each time the Alaska Republican Party chooses not to speak up, it reinforces the perception that principles are negotiable.
A Party Afraid of Its Own Reflection
We have grown too comfortable with excuses. Every loss is blamed on ballot design, mail-in voting, or the election calendar. Those challenges are real, but they do not explain why our message no longer resonates. The harder truth is that our Party no longer reflects the people we claim to serve.
The welder, the small-business owner, the working mom — they don’t see their values in a Party that tolerates complacency, indecision, or internal favoritism. We talk about accountability but rarely apply it where it counts.
Grassroots Requires Grit
We like to say we are a grassroots movement, but real grassroots work is not comfortable. It is cold, inconvenient, and personal. It is about showing up.
My wife Heather lived that during her campaign — spending long hours in the community, knocking doors, listening to people who did not always agree. That is the kind of authentic connection Alaskans respect, and it is exactly what the Party needs to rebuild trust.
Leadership Without Accountability
The deeper problem is not strategy; it is culture. When Republican leaders break faith with their voters and still enjoy the Party’s protection, something is deeply wrong.
We hide behind Reagan’s “Eleventh Commandment” — Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican — as if accountability were betrayal. But Reagan’s intent was not to protect misconduct; it was to prevent division while standing firm on values. We have twisted that principle into silence.
True unity does not mean protecting those who fail the platform — it means restoring integrity, so voters can trust the Party again.
Rebuilding with Integrity
If Alaska Republicans want to win, we must earn back credibility. That means calling out our own when necessary — respectfully, but publicly. It means offering training, mentorship, and structure to new conservative candidates instead of recycling the same names every cycle. And it means measuring loyalty not by titles, but by performance.
We don’t need more meetings or slogans. We need leaders willing to do the hard work — to tell the truth, make changes, and demand better.
Time to Lead Again
Ryan Sheldon is right that organization matters. But organization without integrity is motion without meaning.
The Alaska Republican Party was built by men and women who believed in work, accountability, and moral conviction. Those values shaped this state’s independence and strength. If we cannot embody them inside our own ranks, we will not inspire anyone beyond them.
This is not about blame — it is about courage. It is about finding our way back to the principles that made us who we are. Alaska’s future deserves leaders willing to stand for truth, uphold integrity, and lead with conviction.
Zack Gottshall is a retired U.S. Army Intelligence Officer, former Vice Chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, a Commissioner on the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights, and a small business owner in Anchorage, Alaska.
I agree with you almost 100% and it’s definitely leadership not vetting candidates thoroughly, and then holding the candidates feet to the fire. We, Republicans, appear wimpy without the backbone required to hold the line. Our legislature R’s are pathetic bowing to Democrats for decades. Then most local candidates have no real chance of making needed inroads on local issues.
What does it take to get voters voting? Well, let’s become as shocking as the D’s with our issues!
Finally.
That’s it – we have the majority yet we caucus with the Democrats.
Eastman was abandoned by the RINO NeoCon’s and was replaced by Miss Underwood – to date she’s been VERY underwhelming, but she still has a chance to change course and live up to how/what she campaigned on.
Yundt – huge shocker, as a successful businessman the first thing he does is try to impose additional taxes on Hilcorp, the biggest oil&gas operator in the state – make it, make sense!
When we run “Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnel” types the conservative electorate is not motivated or inspired.
Treg, Dahlstrom – major yawn…
Bernadette – hell yeah!
If you think these losses are bad, just wait until the midterms. Trump and his coterie of misfits are being rejected and it’s spilling over into local politics.
You nailed it, but nothing is going to work unless folks take the small amount of time it takes to go vote, and actually go vote.
Zack, the “crisis of courage” comes simply from the insistence of the hard right that every Republican bow and kiss their feet. YOU are the problem. YOU are creating fear in every Republican that one of our own will roast us alive while the jackasses laugh at us. As hard right as I am, it is not pure enough for some – those who reserve the right to define who is approved by their own criteria. Under our current Party culture, no one qualifies, no one who dares to lead is ever good enough, “conservative” enough. Please Sir, stop destroying my Party. You are doing the devil’s work.
The problem isn’t lack of courage. Democrats certainly lack courage just as much as Republicans. The reason democrats are winning local elections is because of public sector unions. The democrats are literally paying their voters to vote via cushy union contracts. Republicans can’t offer such bribes since democrats control the unions. Getting paid to vote is a much bigger incentive to vote than the opportunity to do what’s best for your community. Either public sector unions need to be abolished, or Republicans need to start shamelessly offering bribes to unions.
I used to tend bar while going to college. Bar patrons were a cross section of the area. Coal miners. Farmers, factory workers, business owners, college students, teachers, professors, doctors, etc. An interesting environment when they had consumed too much liquid courage. When a patron got to complaining about government policies, I’d immediately ask of they had voted. Almost 100% of the time, the most vocal hadn’t voted. I’d tell them if they didn’t vote, they have no right to complain. Sometimes it was good that the bar was between me and them as my reply angered them.
Republicans started their treacherous downhill slide when you turned on Ted Stevens — one the greatest U.S. Senators the nation, much less Alaska ever had. From there, cultural warfare in all its forms became your rallying cry. Forget “doing the best job to serve ALL Alaskans.” The majority of us know Alaska’s Republicans only care about Alaska’s Republicans. That’s why nondeclared and Democratic party voters rarely if ever “vote for the person, not the party” nowadays, like we did in the Stevens era. Alaskan Republicans in local, state or federal elections can expect big losses from this point forward. You’ve proved yourselves to be a dangerous cult, willing to bow in obeisance to one evil, stroke and dementia-addled man.
Your party is currently in the process of destroying this state and the country’s freedoms, along with its reputation across the globe. The Alaska Republicans has shown it does not believe in “We the people of the United States.” Therefore, it cannot be trusted to uphold and defend the Constitution and does not deserve to govern for generations to come.
Right on !!!