ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom said Tuesday she’s running for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House, challenging sitting Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola in the 2024 election.
In her campaign announcement, Dahlstrom dubbed herself “a conservative Republican, law enforcement leader, military and veterans advocate.”
Dahlstrom has served as lieutenant governor for less than a year. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy tapped her as his running mate in 2022. Before that, she had served as commissioner of the Department of Corrections. Dahlstrom also served in the state House beginning between 2003 and 2010, when she took a job as military affairs adviser in the administration of then-Gov. Sean Parnell. She stayed in that position for just a few weeks, stepping down after critics raised questions about whether her acceptance of the job complied with a provision in the Alaska Constitution that bars lawmakers from taking positions created while they are in office.
Dahlstrom joins a congressional race that also includes fellow Republican candidate Nick Begich, who first ran for the seat in 2022, losing twice to Peltola — in both a special election to replace longtime Rep. Don Young and in the regularly scheduled November election.
The Alaska Republican Party has yet to announce any formal endorsements in the race. After the 2022 election, some political observers said Begich and fellow Republican U.S. House candidate, former Gov. Sarah Palin, lost because they spent much of their campaign fighting among each other.
Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat is one Republicans are eying in their quest to keep and widen their control of the chamber in 2024. The candidates will run under Alaska’s new voting system, which includes an open, nonpartisan primary, and ranked-choice general election between the top-four vote-getters.
Dahlstrom, running on the same ticket as second-term Gov. Mike Dunleavy, won her 2022 race. But she largely took a back seat in the campaign.
The lieutenant governor is largely a ceremonial post, but the office has authority over a few key areas, including Alaska’s elections. After announcing her candidacy for lieutenant governor, Dahlstrom said in May 2022 that her top priority when elected would be “that we have safe, secure elections.”
Since Dahlstrom has been in office for under a year, she has yet to oversee any statewide election. Her first action as lieutenant governor was to appoint Carol Beecher, a registered Republican who had contributed to Dahlstrom and Dunleavy’s campaign, to oversee the state’s division of elections. The position had previously been held by individuals who were not registered with a particular political party.
Unless she resigns her post as lieutenant governor before November 2024, Dahlstrom will be responsible for overseeing the integrity of the election in which she is running.
Dahlstrom said in a prepared announcement that she has “seen how D.C. politicians betray Alaskans every day.”
“In Congress, I will stop Biden and the extreme liberals ruining our future, bankrupting our families, killing our jobs, harming our military and veterans, and threatening our security,” she said in the statement.
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