An eighteenth candidate joined the race to be Alaska’s next governor on Tuesday. Anchorage attorney Gregg Brelsford threw his hat in the ring as an independent.
Brelsford, 75, spent time as an Anchorage prosecutor, a municipal manager for two communities in Bristol Bay and the CEO of the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, he said in an interview. Brelsford also ran unsuccessfully for U.S. House following the death of Congressman Don Young.
Brelsford said he’s running to be what he calls “Alaska’s education governor.” He said Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his Republican allies in the Legislature have badly underfunded public education across the state.
“They've abandoned and betrayed and sold out our K through 12 students, and their teachers, and their parents,” Brelsford said.
He pointed in particular to Dunleavy’s vetoes of various efforts to raise public school funding. Lawmakers overrode two of those vetoes last year to increase basic per-student funding by $700.
For his part, Dunleavy has consistently said he’s not convinced funding alone would improve student achievement and raise Alaska’s lagging test scores. Dunleavy is serving his second four-year term and cannot seek reelection.
Brelsford also decried the Dunleavy administration’s decision to share voter data with the federal government and said he’d like the state to return to a defined benefit pension plan for state and local government employees.
If elected, Brelsford said he would place a particular emphasis on law enforcement in three key areas: missing and murdered Indigenous women, crimes against women and drug trafficking.
Brelsford plans to put $200,000 of his own money towards his run as “seed” funding. He’d like to begin his campaign in rural Alaska, he said.
“I came of age in rural Alaska,” he said. “I've spent years and years in villages, small towns, and both tribal and local government organizations through a large part of rural Alaska, so I'm going to be spending a lot of time introducing myself to people there.”
From there, he said, he’ll see what kind of momentum he can build.
He joins a crowded field that includes former state officials, legislators, businesspeople and more. Candidates have until June 1 to join the primary, and the top four candidates in the August primary, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the November general election.