Depending on the November election outcome, Genevieve Mina could be part of the new generation of young legislators in Juneau.
Mina and several other new candidates, like Löki Tobin running for the state Senate, will bring new talent to replace experienced, retiring legislators. Lawmakers like Reps. Chris Tuck and Ivy Spohnholz in the state House, and Sen. Tom Begich in the Senate, are not running again and will pass the torch. That’s assuming the November
elections turn out as expected, but Mina (and Tobin, in the Senate) have a
Mina is 26 but appears young for her age. “How old are you?” she’s often
asked in going door-to-door in her district. She plays along: “I’m 26, but I
already have seven years of political experience,” much of it working in the Legislature.
Mina is not alone in beginning her legislative career early. Many well-known Alaska political leaders started at the same age, including Mark Begich, former Anchorage mayor, and U.S. senator, and Johnny Ellis, a longtime Anchorage state senator, now deceased.
Despite her young age, Mina has the chops. As staff to Rep. Ivy Spohnholz, D-Anch., she helped steer a major healthcare bill on telemedicine through the House this year and then worked with staff to Sen. David Wilson, a Republican from Wasilla, to get the bill through the Senate. The measure expanded the ability of patients and healthcare providers to do consultations by telemedicine in Alaska. The bill is now law.
Mina also worked on another Spohnholz initiative to expand transparency
in healthcare pricing in Alaska. That bill passed too and is now law.
Mina’s political experience began in 2016 when she worked as an aide to
Anchorage Assembly members, most closely with Eric Croft, and did a
summer internship in Washington, D.C. She returned to Alaska to work as
an intern for Spohnholz in 2017 under the Ted Stevens Legislative
Internship Program and was hired as staff for the 2021 and 2022 sessions.
Growing up around a small family health care enterprise Mina understands the problems and how a frayed support network can threaten people. Her mother, Evelyn Mina, is a nurse and founded Anchorage’s Genevieve Assisted Living Home. Guill Mina, her father, worked in the business until he passed in 2007.
“I know what it’s like to be without health insurance,” she said.
If elected, one of Mina’s priorities will be healthcare reform, particularly in
strengthening behavioral health workforce gaps and reducing healthcare
costs. She is also interested in state finances and the need for a state fiscal plan, having been briefed extensively on this by Cliff Groh.
She’s also concerned about climate change and what can be done.
Energy efficiency and reduction of emissions are priorities.
“Mountain View, which is in the district in which I am running, experiences some of the highest utility burdens and asthma rates in Anchorage,” she said.
These issues resonate well in the inner-Anchorage district Mina is running in.
House District 19 was reconfigured in the recent redistricting and now
includes parts of adjacent areas now represented by Reps. Harriet
Drummond and Zack Fields, two fellow Democrats. The district boundaries were altered, and there is no incumbent in District 19, so it’s an open seat.
The district includes the neighborhoods of Airport Heights and Mountain
View, and about half of Russian Jack. It is a mix of apartments and single-
family homes, and it includes seven mobile home parks. In its politics, the
district leans “purple,” meaning a mix of progressive (blue) and
conservative (red), Mina says.
That suits Mina because she sees her role as a bridge-builder, crossing
divides to build consensus. But it’s also a relatively low voter-turnout district that typically sees only 20-percent of registered voters casting ballots. Mina hopes to change that, urging people to register and vote, as she goes door- knocking through the district.
The district is mixed-income, but Mina understands the area. “I grew up
there as the daughter of immigrants,” she said.
Indeed, Mina’s family history is an immigration success story. Her grandfather was a freedom fighter in the Philippines against the Japanese occupation in World War II, fighting as a guerilla. Based on his service, he was able to immigrate to the U.S. after the war. Once here, he brought his son, Mina’s father, who was then serving in the Philippines military, to the U.S. in 1985. Her mother was also able to immigrate.
However, Mina has lived in District 19 all of her life – except for a short period when she lived near Tudor Road. The district is changing, however, and it’s to Mina’s liking. There are younger people moving in, including many who are professionals and who are starting families. Mina feels she shares their values on issues like social and economic equity, environmental protection, and state fiscal reform.
Growing up, she attended Lake Otis and Airport Heights elementary schools; Wendler Middle School, East High, and then the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Mina’s years at the University of Alaska Anchorage were life-changing.
“I had decided that I didn’t want to work in healthcare professionally, so I started as a biology major with a minor in political science. But even in biology, I didn’t want to do medicine and biological fieldwork didn’t feel right for me, so I felt like I was just stuck,” she said.
It was then that she discovered the UAA Seawolves debate team, which ignited a fire in her. Biology fell by the wayside as a major, and she honed in on political science. But Mina’s interest at UAA quickly became focused on debate.
“Being on the debate team for four and a half years taught me how to analyze an issue, particularly how to have an open mind and see
another point of view,” she said.
That ability is crucial because UAA’s debate team members have to be able to argue on both sides and to do it quickly. Once a topic was known, fifteen minutes of preparation was the norm. Debate also helped Mina learn to organize her thoughts and speak clearly and persuasively.
“Before joining the debate team, I was a mumbler and shy about speaking out,” she said.
UAA’s debate team, under its longtime director, Steve Johnson, has won
international recognition. Mina was part of the team when it participated in the World University’s 2019 debating championships in Cape Town, South Africa. She and a teammate also won in a Seattle University debate
tournament in 2018, continuing a long-term winning streak for the
Seawolves team in that competition.
“My first two years on the debate team were particularly challenging
because I felt insecure and intimidated by my other team members, and
sensed that I didn’t fit in with the prestigious reputation of the team,”
Her preeparation for debate was an intense learning process that
forced her to really commitment to the activity.
“Debate helped me dive into my weaker subject areas. It also required additional hours practicing with my coaches,” Mina said. “These were smaller goals compared with those of others on the team, but
for someone like myself who grew up shy and soft-spoken, my debate
career has been instrumental to my confidence and skills in issue-analysis.”
It was perfect preparation for someone entering politics. If elected to the House, Mina hopes to use those skills – to understand others’ views – to reach out and build bridges across the intense partisan divisions in the Legislature.
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