Alaska Democratic Party

Alaska Democratic Party
Chairperson	Mike Wenstrup
House Leader	Calvin Schrage (Independent, Minority Caucus)
Senate Leader	N/A (Bipartisan Coalition)
Headquarters	2602 Fairbanks St., Anchorage, Alaska 99503-2428
Membership (2022)	79,147
Ideology	Modern liberalism
National affiliation	Democratic Party
Colors	Blue
Seats in the U.S. Senate	0 / 2
Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives	1 / 1
Statewide Executive Offices	0 / 2
Seats in the State Senate	9 / 20
Seats in the State House of Representatives	13 / 40
Website
www.alaskademocrats.org
Politics of Alaska Elections

The Alaska Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Alaska, headquartered in Anchorage.

It is one of two major parties in Alaska, alongside the Alaska Republican Party. The Democratic Party holds Alaska's at-large congressional seat, as well as the Alaska Senate in a coalition government. As of 2020, there are over 75,000 registered members of the Alaska Democratic Party.

History

In 1949, the Young Democrats of Alaska was established as a group. Except in U.S. presidential elections, the Alaska Democratic Party was very successful in the early days of statehood and the late territory days (pre-1959), featuring such characters as territorial governor and later national senator Ernest Gruening. Gruening was one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized an expansion of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Bob Bartlett, also a Democrat, and erstwhile secretary of the territory, was the first senator from Alaska, and remained a senator until his death in 1968. William A. Egan, also of the Alaska Democratic Party, was elected the first governor of the State of Alaska. Until the election of governor Bill Walker, he was the only governor of Alaska of either party to have been born in Alaska. In the U.S. House meanwhile, Democrat Ralph J. Rivers was the state's first representative from statehood until 1967.

In the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Ted Kennedy, representing Senator Robert Kennedy (of New York), in the presence of Senator Gruening, gave a historic speech on the island-community of Sitka, Alaska. Democrat Mike Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and served for two terms until his defeat in the Democratic primary in 1980 (Republicans ultimately picked up the seat in the general). By the end of 1973, Gravel was the only Alaska Democrat remaining in federal office, as the state's House seat and other Senate seat had switched hands to Republicans. After Gravel left office, Democrats would not hold any seats in Alaska's congressional delegation again for almost three decades.

Notable U.S. House elections

On October 16, 1972, Alaska's incumbent Democratic congressman Nick Begich went missing in a plane crash along with House Majority Leader Hale Boggs en route to Juneau from Anchorage. In spite of this, three weeks later, Begich won re-election to his seat. However, he was later declared dead on December 29 of that year after an intensive search effort. Neither Begich's body nor the plane he flew on were ever found.

In a special election held shortly thereafter in 1973, Republican Don Young (who had previously lost to the late Begich) won election to the seat and held it until his death while in office in 2022. In the special election held after Young's death, Democrat Mary Peltola won Alaska's at-large congressional seat, flipping the seat to Democrats for the first time in almost 50 years. Peltola would be elected a full term in November of that year.

Other recent history

The most recent Democrat to serve as Governor of Alaska was Tony Knowles, who served from 1994 to 2002, while the most recent Democrat to hold statewide executive office in Alaska was Byron Mallott, who served as Lieutenant Governor under independent governor Bill Walker from 2014 until his resignation in 2018 after a scandal.

Democrat Barack Obama won the 2008 Democratic caucuses in Alaska by a margin of more than three to one over Hillary Clinton, a higher percentage than any state except Idaho. He then received 37.89 percent of the total statewide vote in the general election, losing the state to Republican John McCain, who had selected then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. In the same election year, Democrat Mark Begich narrowly won election to the U.S. Senate over longtime Republican incumbent Ted Stevens. Begich lost re-election in 2014, the same year that Democratic-endorsed independent Bill Walker defeated incumbent Republican Sean Parnell for Governor.

In 2012, President Obama lost the state to Republican Mitt Romney but increased his percentage of the statewide vote to 40.81%. This was later used as evidence in a high-profile New York Times article detailing the complexity of Alaska politics and the difficulty in predicting the electability of Democrats in the state. In 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump carried the state by around fifteen percentage points over Hillary Clinton. No Democrat has carried Alaska in presidential elections since 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson had his landslide victory over Barry Goldwater.

Following the 2022 Alaska Senate elections, nine Democrats joined with eight Republicans to form a majority caucus and split several senate posts between them.

Party organization

Party leadership

The leadership of the Alaska Democratic Party consists of the following individuals:

• Chair - Mike Wenstrup
• 1st Vice Chair - Casey Steinau
• Secretary - Katherine Pfeiffer
• Treasurer - Monica Southworth
• National Committeewoman - Brenda Knapp
• National Committeeman - Charles Degnan

Party functions

The Alaska Democratic Party performs many functions, all with the aim of helping Democrats to win elected office within the state.

These functions include:

• The organization and recruitment of citizens to go door to door for the party and promote the party issues and candidates.
• The coordination of statewide campaigns for the general election every two years.
• Working to get articles into newspapers, letters to the editors written, and callers on talk radio stations.
• Operating the official Alaska Democratic Party website.
• Sending out email announcements to Democrats regarding party activities.
• Operating a state Voter File.

Current elected officials

Members of Congress

U.S. Senate

• None

U.S. House of Representatives

District	Member	Photo
At-large	Mary Peltola

Ideology

From the Alaska Democratic Party Platform, Nome, Alaska 2014:

"Platform Summary Energy, Education, and Alaska Values:

ENERGY:

Resource development:

Alaska's Constitution requires that we obtain the "maximum benefit" from resource development. Alaska Democrats support the bipartisan concept of the Owner State and will work to control our own resources.

Affordable Energy:

Delivering affordable energy to all Alaskans must be a top priority for the legislature.

Short Term:

Restore an oil production tax structure that rewards development and maximizes returns to Alaskans Support energy efficiency investments that pay for themselves; Prioritize energy investments.

Long Term:

Get natural gas to market and maximize the benefit for Alaskans; Expand renewable/alternative energy production.

EDUCATION:

Human capital is our most valuable natural resource. Investing non-renewable resource profits in our children will pay sustained dividends for Alaska.

Short Term:

Finish University of Alaska engineering facilities; Ensure classroom funding keeps pace with inflation.

Long Term:

Establish universal voluntary Pre-K; Reduce class sizes; Ensure vocational and technical training opportunities are available for all Alaska job seekers; Expand research capacity of the University of Alaska;

ALASKA VALUES:

The state legislature should support Alaska values of self-reliance, subsistence, personal privacy, government restraint, and balanced budgets.

Short Term:

Support Medicaid Expansion; Protect the Permanent Fund Dividend; Protect Alaskans' right to self-reliance; Defend Alaskans' Right to Privacy; Protect Alaskans' property from government seizure; Support active duty and veteran service members; Re-establish the Alaska Commission on the Status of Women; Protect Alaska's Constitutional language prohibiting use of public funding for private schools;

Long Term:

Expand Denali Kid Care; Equality of Voting Access for rural and urban areas; Support active duty and veteran service members; Equal pay for equal work; Expand child care assistance for working families; Support local food production; Protect Alaskans' retirement savings."

Election results

Presidential

Alaska Democratic Party presidential election results

Election	Presidential Ticket	Votes	Vote %	Electoral votes	Result
1960	John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson	29,809	49.06%	0 / 3	Won
1964	Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey	44,329	65.91%	3 / 3	Won
1968	Hubert Humphrey/Edmund Muskie	35,411	42.65%	0 / 3	Lost
1972	George McGovern/Sargent Shriver	32,967	34.61%	0 / 3	Lost
1976	Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale	44,058	35.65%	0 / 3	Won
1980	Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale	41,842	26.41%	0 / 3	Lost
1984	Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro	62,007	29.87%	0 / 3	Lost
1988	Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen	72,584	36.27%	0 / 3	Lost
1992	Bill Clinton/Al Gore	78,294	30.29%	0 / 3	Won
1996	Bill Clinton/Al Gore	80,380	33.27%	0 / 3	Won
2000	Al Gore/Joe Lieberman	69	27.67%	0 / 3	Lost
2004	John Kerry/John Edwards	111,025	35.52%	0 / 3	Lost
2008	Barack Obama/Joe Biden	123,594	37.89%	0 / 3	Won
2012	Barack Obama/Joe Biden	122,640	40.81%	0 / 3	Won
2016	Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine	116,454	36.55%	0 / 3	Lost
2020	Joe Biden/Kamala Harris	153,778	42.77%	0 / 3	Won

Gubernatorial

Alaska Democratic Party gubernatorial election results

Election	Gubernatorial candidate	Votes	Vote %	Result
1958	William A. Egan	29,189	59.61%	Won Y
1962	William A. Egan	29,627	52.27%	Won Y
1966	William A. Egan	32,065	48.37%	Lost N
1970	William A. Egan	42,309	52.38%	Won Y
1974	William A. Egan	45,553	47.37%	Lost N
1978	Chancy Croft	25,656	20.22%	Lost N
1982	Bill Sheffield	89,918	46.12%	Won Y
1986	Steve Cowper	84,943	47.31%	Won Y
1990	Tony Knowles	60,201	30.91%	Lost N
1994	Tony Knowles	87,693	41.08%	Won Y
1998	Tony Knowles	112,879	51.27%	Won Y
2002	Fran Ulmer	94,216	40.70%	Lost N
2006	Tony Knowles	97,238	40.97%	Lost N
2010	Ethan Berkowitz	96,519	37.67%	Lost N
2014	Endorsed Bill Walker (Independent)	N/A	N/A	Did not run
2018	Mark Begich	125,739	44.41%	Lost N
2022	Les Gara	63,755	24.21%	Lost N

See also

• Political party strength in Alaska
• List of state parties of the Democratic Party (United States)
• 2020 Alaska Democratic primary

External links

• Official website