2026 Governor's Race: Choice Between Boring Competence and MAGA Lunacy
It seems that running a policy-driven campaign focused on critical issues like public education funding, affordable housing, and lower energy prices is resonating with Alaskans more than manufactured lower-48 culture wars do.
I've been under the weather this week - honestly, much of it has been a haze, but I woke up this morning feeling marginally better and thought, what the hell, let's do a thing.
The latest polling on the governor's race is out - courtesy of Alaska Survey Research, and the tiering effect in the race is quite noteworthy. The top four contenders are pulling away from the rest of the pack, but the dynamic at the very top is what should have every sane Alaskan paying close attention.
Democrat Tom Begich sits with 20.8%, up nearly two points from last month. I'm not too smart, but it seems that running a policy-driven campaign focused on critical issues like public education funding, affordable housing, and lower energy prices is resonating with Alaskans more than manufactured lower-48 culture wars do.
It will be interesting to see how Begich's numbers move after yesterday's announcement that he tapped former USDA Rural Development state director Julia Hnilicka as his running mate. Hnilicka is an interesting choice - she ran (and lost) a race for elected office, although it was in a super red district, but she's YUGELY popular in Fairbanks and the surrounding areas. She's also not a political insider looking for a vanity title. Hnilicka spent a decade running a family tug-and-barge operation on the Yukon River, which means she understands brutal rural logistics far better than your average politician.
Also at the top is MAGA lunatic Bernadette Wilson, with 15.8%. Wilson, a former Americans for Prosperity operative and "Save Anchorage" shitster, is banking hard on her MAGA base.
Did you know that a shady new independent expenditure group called "Build the Damn Roads," backed by out-of-state political operatives, recently formed? It's true! According to Nat Herz, the IE plans to raise and spend six figures to support the woman who once said before the Anchorage Assembly that COVID patients weren't overrunning hospitals.
Nathaniel Herz
Contrary to her false assertions, Providence Hospital declared Standard Crisis of Care in September of 2021. I know that because I wrote the story. Click this link to watch a short clip and witness for yourself how nasty and ill-tempered Wilson is.
Wilson's entire brand is built on grievance politics, defiance of public health and safety, and she maintains a regressive worldview that would drag Alaska backward. Oh, and her running mate is former State Senator Mike Shower, who practically wrote the book on partisan obstruction in Juneau before bailing. Shower is also an election fraud conspiracy theorist, so imagine what happens if she wins and Shower has power over our elections. 🤯
It's a ticket she probably designed in a lab to appeal to the furthest fringes of the right.
Rounding out the top four are flunky former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson at 10.6% and Republican Click Bishop at 9.8%. Bronson's campaign is barely holding on - relying on whatever is left of his base, given his astronomical unfavorables, while Bishop is trying to play the labor-aligned centrist, hoping the rest of the field self-destructs.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, Matt Claman, and Nancy Dahlstrom are watching the gap widen as they drop further behind the frontrunners.
Oh, and umm...this just happened. Talk about delusional. I just can't even with this right now.
With the June 1 filing deadline approaching, the field is mostly locked in at this point, and the contrast couldn't be clearer. It sure looks like Alaskans are going to have to choose between someone who will step up and govern and a lunatic who practices performative MAGA extremism.
