Bill Elam speaks at a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Bill Elam speaks at a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Elam enters Alaska House race

Elam has represented District 5, which includes Sterling and Funny River, on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly since 2020

Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member Bill Elam on Sunday entered the race for the Alaska House of Representatives seat that includes the communities of Nikiski, Hope and Moose Pass.

The seat is currently held by Ben Carpenter, also a Republican. Carpenter has served in the Alaska Legislature since 2019 and registered in November to run for the Alaska Senate seat currently held by Jesse Bjorkman. In his bid for State House, Elam will face off against John Hillyer, also a Republican, who filed to run for the seat last November.

On the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, Elam has represented District 5, which includes Sterling and Funny River, since 2020. He has since served as liaison to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and chair of the assembly’s Lands Committee. He currently works as a network administrator for Central Peninsula Hospital.

Elam said Monday that he first considered running for State House after learning that Carpenter wouldn’t seek reelection to the seat. He plans to run as a Republican and said his values include small government and fiscal conservatism. To the Alaska Legislature, Elam said he’d bring statesmanship in addition to a background in information technology and health care.

“I’m really looking forward to understanding issues that people are having,” Elam said Monday. “I want to talk to people and I want to know what they would like, particularly, from their House representative.”

More information about upcoming state elections can be found on the Alaska Division of Elections website at elections.alaska.gov. The deadline for candidates interested in running in Alaska’s 2024 general election is Saturday, June 1 at 5 p.m.

Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Seward City Clerk Kris Peck, right, administers an oath of office to Seward City Council newcomer Casie Warner during a council meeting in Seward, Alaska, on Oct. 28, 2024. (Screenshot courtesy City of Seward)
Seward City Council swears in winners of October municipal election

They were sworn in two weeks after the council certified its election results

Duane Bannock speaks to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Borough’s tourism industry working group takes shape

The group will explore the effects of a potential bed tax

Assembly Member Peter Ribbens speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Ribbens, Cooper named new heads of borough assembly

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly reorganized during their Oct. 22 meeting

A special weather statement for the western Kenai Peninsula was issued Monday by the National Weather Service. The area will see strong gusty winds and rain late tonight and through Tuesday morning. A winter storm warning remains in effect from 3 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday for areas of the eastern peninsula. (Image via weather.gov)
Windy weather heads for western Kenai Peninsula

The western Kenai Peninsula will experience some windy and wet conditions Tuesday and Wednesday.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish to consider set beach seines for east side setnet fishery

Seines were tested on local beaches this summer in effort helmed by Lisa and Brian Gabriel

Sockeye salmon are gathered together at a test site for selective harvest setnet gear in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 25, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Fish to consider expansion of commercial dipnetting fishery

Discussion of expanded time, days and season of commercial dipnet fishery scheduled for March

The Alaska Board of Fisheries hears public testimony at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Feb. 18, 1999. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion file)
Board of Fisheries again declines to hold Upper Cook Inlet meeting on Kenai Peninsula

The State Board of Fisheries this week rejected calls from the Kenai… Continue reading

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski takes a selfie with Rose Burke at the Kenai Municipal Airport in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Burke won the 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest and will travel to Washington, D.C., in December to light the tree. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Connections student to light U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Rose Burke, 9, won the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree essay contest and will travel to Washington D.C.

Most Read