Alaska Democrats question state candidacy law

JUNEAU — Alaska Democratic party leaders have approved allowing candidates not affiliated with a political party to run in the Democratic primary.

In a letter to state election officials provided by the party late Tuesday afternoon, party chair Casey Steinau said that Democrats believe a state law requiring a candidate seeking a party’s nomination to be a registered voter of that party to be unconstitutional and unenforceable.

A memo prepared for the party by an attorney with a Washington, D.C., firm concluded that a political party’s freedom of association is likely to be found to include the right to allow non-affiliated candidates to seek that party’s nomination and that state law prohibiting that is likely to be held unconstitutional. The firm is Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock.

Unaffiliated candidates currently can run for office by petition and gathering signatures. In a release, Steinau said Democrats want their party to be as inclusive as possible. This also would give voters more choices in the primary, she said.

Party spokesman Jake Hamburg said the party will ask the state Division of Elections to implement the change for this year’s elections. He said it would be a pilot program because party bylaws must be approved every two years and this is year two of a two-year cycle.

A message was left Tuesday with the director of the Division of Elections.

The Democratic party’s central committee approved the change during a weekend meeting.

Currently, only one of the state’s legislators, Rep. Dan Ortiz of Ketchikan, is unaffiliated with a party. He caucuses with minority House Democrats.

In 2014, when he was running for governor, Bill Walker changed his party affiliation from Republican to undeclared in joining forces with Democrat Byron Mallott. Mallott abandoned his own gubernatorial bid to be Walker’s running mate. The ticket was supported by the Democratic party. Walker and Mallott won.

Unaffiliated candidates — those identified as undeclared or nonpartisan — comprise the largest voting bloc in the state. Alaska’s Republican party has nearly twice the number of registered voters as Democrats, according to Division of Elections statistics.

The Democrats say that it’s been with support from independents that Democrats have won elections.

Hamburg said there are independents who share the party’s values but don’t necessarily want to check a box identifying themselves as Democrats. The proposed change would allow independents to run in a Democratic primary while retaining their status as unaffiliated, he said.

More in News

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Rep. Bill Elam, R-Nikiski, speaks during a town hall meeting hosted by his office at the Nikiski Community Recreation Center in Nikiski, Alaska, on Saturday, Feb. 8, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Education dominates Elam’s 1st town hall as state rep

Education funding dominated much of the conversation.

Kenai Middle School Principal Vaughn Dosko points out elements of a redesign plan for the front of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Work soon to begin on Kenai Middle security upgrades

The security upgrades are among several key KPBSD maintenance projects included in a bond approved by borough voters in October 2022.

The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Kenai adds funds, authorizes contract for study of emergency services facility

The building shared by Kenai’s police and fire departments hasn’t kept up with the needs of both departments, chief says.

Kenai Parks and Recreation Director Tyler Best shows off a new inclusive seesaw at Kenai Municipal Park in Kenai, Alaska, on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai awards contract to develop Parks and Rec master plan

The document is expected to guide the next 20 years of outdoors and recreation development in the city.

Most Read