Republicans in the Alaska House have a new leader. Palmer Rep. DeLena Johnson replaced Anchorage Rep. Mia Costello as minority leader on Saturday after a hastily-called vote. And some members of the caucus are crying foul.
Alaska Public Media’s state government reporter, Eric Stone, joined Alaska News Nightly host Casey Grove to break down the transition.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity.
Casey Grove: So, Eric, what happened over the Thanksgiving holiday?
Eric Stone: Well, the story starts a little before that. In mid-November, a couple of Republican lawmakers approached Mia Costello. One of those was DeLena Johnson. She was a little hesitant to tell me exactly how that meeting went, but she told me she did not go into it looking to force Costello out.
Shortly after that, Costello stepped down as minority leader. Here’s what she told me about why.
Mia Costello: I stepped aside because it was clear that I was not able to unite the caucus, and I felt that it was time for somebody else to give it a shot that everyone could unite behind
ES: That, of course, left the House minority caucus without a leader. And it’s a big task to unite a pretty ideologically diverse Republican caucus that has struggled with internal divisions. Some are staunch allies of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, and some have voted on several occasions to override the governor’s vetoes.
But into that vacuum stepped DeLena Johnson. On Saturday, she called a caucus meeting over Zoom, basically just to talk about the way forward. By the end of it, there was a vote, and Johnson won.
Johnson says she wasn’t planning to call a vote. But she says the subject came up organically, so the caucus went ahead and voted. Here’s how she put it.
DeLena Johnson: I'm looking at it thinking, “Well, if the votes don't change, and they're not going to change, well, let's just take the vote now, and then we can just start moving along.”
ES: But here’s the thing: not everybody was there. In fact, six Republicans were absent — basically, the most conservative members. Folks like Big Lake Rep. Kevin McCabe, Homer Rep. Sarah Vance, Anchorage Rep. Jamie Allard and Fairbanks Rep. Frank Tomaszewski.
CG: Not to mention two districts that don’t have any representatives at all.
ES: That’s right — after Reps. Cathy Tilton and George Rauscher got kicked across the Capitol to the Senate to replace Sens. Mike Shower and Shelley Hughes, two districts don’t have anyone in the House, at least not yet. And all of that is a major sticking point for conservatives like McCabe — not least because he’d like to be minority leader himself.
Kevin McCabe: If I had been there — I was also in the running, there were some folks that were supporting me — we could have maybe at least had a debate instead of just a coronation.
ES: Of course, it might not have changed the outcome of the vote. It does not sound to me like McCabe had the votes to lead the House Republicans. But he says the decision to hold the vote — without telling the caucus it was coming — robbed him and other conservatives of a chance to make their case and possibly change some minds.
Johnson says she wanted to have the vote sooner rather than later, actually in part because of those two vacancies.
DeLena Johnson: There's some desire to have some leadership as we move through the next month, because we have two new members that we're going to have to interview, and then we will have to go through a mini-reorganization process for our new members, shuffling around committees and assigning committees.
ES: Gov. Mike Dunleavy appoints the replacement representatives, but they are subject to a confirmation vote by House Republicans. And Tilton’s elevation to the Senate along with Costello’s stepping aside left the caucus without any leadership — Tilton was the minority whip, the number two in the caucus.
In any case, Johnson says she’d be happy to hold more discussions and votes about caucus leadership.
CG: So the Republican caucus has a new leader. What does that mean for how the legislative session will go this year?
ES: That’s a little harder to say. If you ask McCabe, he says the leadership transition is a move towards the center for the Republican minority.
Kevin McCabe: There is a push from inside our caucus to do that, mainly because they think it will allow them the ability to elect representatives — more moderate representatives that are least Republican in name — from Anchorage. I think that's a mistake. But yes, there is a push to to drive us to a more centrist position
ES: Johnson rejects that view — she does not see it as a move towards the center. And she says she’s excited about the work ahead. She calls this a “rough patch” but says she’s hoping the House minority can push some Republican priorities forward this session.
DeLena Johnson: There's a lot of different things out there. We’ve got the movement on the gas line on the national front — we have a lot of eyes on Alaska. And I hope, and I want our house minority, our Republican minority (to have) the opportunity to really be a part of a solution on a number of those things.
ES: But this might not be over. I asked McCabe whether the move has him considering whether to leave the minority caucus. Here’s what he said.
Kevin McCabe: You just never know what's going to happen in in the legislature
CG: I’ve got to say, that doesn’t sound like a no.
ES: It does not. So there might be some more turbulence ahead.
