Déjà vu in some Alaska House districts as voters decide the outcome of rematches

Voters in some of Alaska’s state House districts might feel a sense of déjà vu when they go to the polls this year.

From the Arctic to South Anchorage, several races for House seats are rematches from 2024 and, in some cases, elections in earlier years.

One of those rematches is a contest in the farthest-north House district between two Democratic women. Rep. Robyn Niayuq Burke Frier of Utqiagvik is defending her seat against Kotzebue Mayor Saima Chase in District 40. Both women ran in 2024, as did incumbent Republican Thomas Baker of Kotzebue, who finished in third place.

In House District 39, which encompasses the Bering Strait region and a slice of Lower Yukon River territory, incumbent Democratic Rep. Neal Foster of Nome again faces Tyler Ivanoff of Shishmaref.

Ivanoff ran against Foster in 2020, 2022 and 2024 under different party labels — as a Democrat who narrowly lost the primary in 2020 and as an Alaskan Independence Party member in the next two elections. This year, he is running as a nonpartisan, as is a third candidate in the race, Reynold Okitkun of Kotlik.

In South Anchorage, incumbent Republican Mia Costello and Democrat Denny Wells are facing each other for the second time in District 15. The district encompasses the West Dimond Boulevard, Jewel Lake and Campbell Lake areas. For Wells, it is his third attempt to win the seat.

District 40: Arctic rematch

In the nation’s farthest-north state legislative district, each of the Democratic candidates on the ballot have deep public-service experience.

Frier, who is finishing her first two-year term, has a background in education. Before being elected to the legislature, she served for four years on the North Slope Borough School District board, which she chaired for two years. She was the secretary/treasurer of the Association of Alaska School Boards Board of Directors and has held other leadership positions.

Chase has a career in emergency response and public safety.

Before being elected as mayor of the hub city in the Northwest Arctic region, she served as the Northwest Arctic Borough’s fire chief and search and rescue coordinator. Her current day job, aside from her position of mayor, is as the emergency manager for the local tribe. She has served in other public safety organizations as well.

In 2024, Frier — then using the last name Burke, which she changed upon her recent marriage — topped Chase in a three-way general election, with results counted through ranked-choice voting. In the primary that year, however, Chase wound up on top by three votes.

In this year’s Aug. 18 primary, Frier received 61.8% of the vote to Chase’s 38.2%.

Frier and Chase are both Inupiat, and they have common positions on issues. The main point of separation is their place of residence — the North Slope for Frier and Northwest Arctic for Chase.

Earlier in Alaska history, the North Slope and Northwest Arctic were in separate House districts. Though both regions are majority Inupiat, they have some contrasts, some stemming from a wealth gap.

The North Slope holds Alaska’s major oil fields, which generate significant revenue for local governments. The Northwest Arctic does not have oil fields. Its main industrial activity is at the Red Dog mine, one of the world’s largest zinc producers. The mine provides local government revenue and jobs — but not at the high level that that North Slope oil activity provides.

Over past election cycles, House District representation has seesawed between the two regions.

Representing both sides of the district requires understanding both the differences and similarities between the regions, Frier said by email.

“For example, modern and reliable water infrastructure is an acute need for the Northwest Arctic, where erosion and freeze-ups can damage pipe systems,” she said. 

When extreme cold hit Northwest Arctic villages last March, she worked with Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office to ensure a disaster declaration and deployment of needed resources, she said. “I saw firsthand during trips into Ambler how broken water systems in these communities can make basic wellness, bathing, and fire response nearly impossible. No Alaskan should live like that, and it’s these fundamental, human challenges that ground my perspective as a legislator,” she said.

Shared needs between the two regions include a well-funded school system; strong, safe communities; lower energy costs, protection of voting rights “and the preservation of Inupiaq traditions and practices,” she said.

“These shared priorities are reflected in over 50 years of cooperation between our region’s respective school districts, regional corporations and local governments to better coordinate priorities, land claims and disaster response effort,” she said.

Chase, also responding to questions by email, said the regions share a culture, language and a lot of family ties, but they have some different needs.

“The North Slope Borough has a strong local tax base, so it can fund many of its own services. The Northwest Arctic doesn’t have that, and our communities depend much more on the State for basic services like public safety, school funding, roads and airports, health care, and help after storms and erosion,” she said. That means when the state cuts services, those cuts are felt first and hardest in the Northwest Arctic, she said.

Like Frier, she said it is important to consider sometimes contrasting conditions in the two sides of the district.

“Representing both means listening to each region on its own terms and not assuming one size fits all,” Chase said.

“Where our interests line up, on subsistence, energy costs, and protecting our coastlines, I’ll make sure the North Slope and Northwest Arctic speak with one strong voice in Juneau. Where the Northwest Arctic needs the State to step up, I’ll fight for that without apology. Our elders taught us atautchikun, working together as one, and that’s how I’ll represent every community in HD 40,” she said.

Whether separate House districts or joined together, the North Slope and Northwest Arctic have produced prominent legislators who played significant roles in Alaska history.

They include Eben Hopson, who was the first mayor of the North Slope Borough and the founder of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, in addition to serving in the territorial legislature and later in the state Senate. Hopson is a towering figure in Alaska and Arctic history and credited with protecting Indigenous culture and political rights.

Also from the North Slope was Brenda Itta-Lee of Barrow, as Utqiagvik was officially named then. In the 1970s she became the first Alaska Native woman elected to the state House.  

Legislative leaders from the Northwest Arctic included Willie Hensley, who was one of the architects of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and one of the founders of the Alaska Federation of Natives, in addition to serving terms in the state House and Senate and numerous other accomplishments.

Frier and Chase say those historic leaders inspire them.

Frier named Hopson, “a true monument of a man,” and called Itta-Lee and former Rep. Reggie Joule, D-Kotzebue, as inspiration. Joule, a Native Olympics star prior to his political service and a Northwest Arctic Borough mayor after his legislative service, was “a personal role model and has helped guide me and ground me in the needs of our entire region,” Frier said.

Chase cited Hensley as “someone I’ve looked up to my whole life.” She cited his numerous accomplishments, which she said continue to shape the Northwest Arctic. “He showed that one person from our region can change the direction of the whole state,” she said.

Chase also listed former Rep. Eileen Panigeo MacLean, D-Barrow, as a leader she admires. “She wasn’t afraid to stand up to the big urban caucuses in Juneau, but she worked well with everyone and got things done for rural Alaska. She also had roots in both the North Slope and the Northwest Arctic, which is exactly the kind of bridge HD 40 needs,” Chase said.

District 39: A Bering Strait rematch

Foster is a legislative veteran with a very familiar name to district voters. His father, Democrat Richard Foster, held the seat from 1989 to the time of his death in 2009. Neal Foster was appointed to the seat after his father died and has been returned to office since then.

He has served since 2017 as co-chair of the powerful House Finance Committee, that body’s gatekeeper for all budget matters. The House and Senate finance committees hammer out the budgets that the legislature must pass each year. That gives committee members clout, and committee chairs even more clout.

There is little difference between him and Ivanoff on policy stances and goals, though Foster said he does not know much about Okitkun in an Oct. 23 interview at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention.

The big difference is the seniority and experience he offers as a contrast to his competitors, he said.

“What I’ve really focused on for me is the fact that I will be ranked number one in the House next year because Bryce is moving to the Senate,” he said, referring to House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham. “If we get a new person in, they’re going to be ranked number 40 or somewhere down at the very bottom, which is not necessarily good for our district.”

An example of the policy similarities is the desire for a “full” Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, the annual payout from the state’s oil-wealth fund. Whether Alaskans get a big dividend depends on action to raise revenues, Foster said, citing a curtailment of oil tax credits as an important step. Foster has also favored the elimination of an income tax exemption for S corporations, which are known as pass-through corporations because their profits flow to private owners rather than public shareholders so they do not pay corporate income tax in Alaska. The main company benefitting from that tax exemption in Alaska is Hilcorp, the privately held Texas-based company that is now one of the state’s major oil producers and operators.

Foster said that having seniority and clout helps not just District 39 but all of rural Alaska. He cited as one example his protection of the state’s Power Cost Equalization fund, which helps cover rural electricity costs so that they are closer to urban Alaska costs.

“I’ve literally had people come to me over the years and say, ‘Neal, to balance the budget, you’ve got a billion dollars in this PCE fund. We’re going to need to start chipping away at that,’ and I say, ‘No, no, no, we will not,’” he said.

To Ivanoff, who is mounting his fourth run against Foster, legislative seniority is not necessarily an asset.

In his responses to the candidate questionnaire published in the Alaska Beacon and elsewhere, Ivanoff said some new approaches will be needed to raise state revenues. “Right now the incumbents who have been in office for many have their minds set,” he said in the questionnaire.

Ivanoff came close to Foster in the Democratic primary in 2020, finishing 100 votes behind, or 5 percentage points. In the next two elections, Ivanoff ran as an Alaskan Independence Party member and lost in the general election by wider margins — by 16.5 percentage points in 2024. The Alaskan Independence Party disbanded earlier this year.

The third candidate is Reynold Okitkun of Kotlik, a former mayor and city council member in that village. Okitkun, whose nickname “Papa Joe” appears on the ballot, is also a former member of the local tribal council.

This year, Ivanoff and Okitkun have also teamed up to support each other through Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system.

“Reynold Okitkun and I are both candidates from small rural communities in our district. We have lived the lifestyle of rural Alaska our entire lives. We have hunted for our food, gathered from the land and sea, and supported our communities throughout our lives,” Ivanoff said in a Facebook post.

“We understand the challenges of living in rural Alaska because we live them ourselves. We know what it means to depend on our subsistence way of life, support our families, and look out for our neighbors.”

“Even though Reynold and I are running for the same seat, I respect him and believe we can put our communities first. We are both nonpartisan candidates, and I believe our region deserves a leader who understands the people and the challenges we face every day,” Ivanoff wrote.

In the Aug. 18 open primary, Foster won 52.2% of the vote to Ivanoff’s 29.2% and Okitkun’s 18.6%.

Politics aside, Foster and Ivanoff have some ties to each other, and possibly to Okitkun as well.

Foster and Ivanoff are distant cousins, sharing a pair a great-great-grandparents, the incumbent said.

Okitkun may be a cousin, too, Foster said.

The Fosters are related to the Okitkon families in Koyuk and Elim, he said. This summer, when he was in Koyuk, he got another hint of family ties. “Some of my cousins said, ‘Oh, we are related to the Okitkuns in Kotlik, too, even though the name’s spelled a little bit differently,” Foster said. 

The spelling difference is in the last vowel: O for the Koyuk family and U for the candidate’s family.

Potential flip in South Anchorage

Another rematch is getting attention in South Anchorage. That is because Democrat Wells, now making his third attempt and in his second matchup against Republican incumbent Costello, has the potential to flip the seat and expand the now-slim House majority.

Wells’ first race, in 2022, was against former Rep. Tom McKay, a Republican. It was the first year that Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system was in effect. When the rankings were fully calculated, McKay won in a squeaker, by just nine votes.

In 2024, he lost by a wider margin to Costello, a legislative veteran who served previously in the state Senate. Costello had 51.5% of the vote to Wells’ 45.5%.

But in this year’s Aug. 18 open primary, Wells finished ahead of Costello, with 52.7% to her 47.3%.

Unlike the Arctic and Bering Strait races, the contest for District 15 has a decidedly suburban flavor.

Wells is making a pitch for increased education funding — and citing the close 2022 election, in which he lost by nine votes, to make the point that every vote matters.

“Those nine votes elected a representative who was the deciding member to uphold vetoes that cost our schools tens of millions of dollars,” Wells says in one of his Facebook videos showing him riding an electric scooter as he goes door-to-door in the neighborhood.

He bought the scooter specifically for the campaign, he said by email, and it has been helpful. He knocked on doors all along Jodhpur Road and West Dimond Boulevard between Sand Lake Road and Kincaid Park in a single day, he said. Without the scooter, the task would have taken two or three days, he said.

But it has also added a fun twist to the campaign, he said. “The scooter makes a great conversation piece — people often smile and comment about it when they see it at the end of the driveway while we are chatting at their door,” he said.

Costello, a former teacher, is also emphasizing education, though not explicitly supporting increased funding.

“Mia Costello supports responsible funding for education by funding Alaska’s schools early, putting more education dollars directly into the classroom – not administration – and lowering class sizes. Investing in children today helps build Alaska’s future tomorrow,” her campaign’s Facebook page says.

Like Wells, Costello is campaigning with a neighborly flair. Her Facebook page features a video of her walking a neighborhood street, photos of her with voters at their homes and even a video from a Dimond High School swim and dive team carwash fundraiser. Costello was a star swimmer herself, at West Anchorage High School and Harvard University.

Although the race has statewide implications, the candidates appear to be focused locally.

“I suppose political pundits or party insiders may be paying more attention, but in my social circles I’m still just the guy at church who volunteers and has photos on the wall or the bass singer in my theater performance groups or the real estate photographer or my kids’ dad at their schools,” Wells said in his email.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, and early voting is available before then at numerous sites in the state.

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