2024 Alaska House of Representatives election


The 2024 Alaska House of Representatives election took place on November 5, 2024, as part of the biennial United States elections. All 40 seats in the Alaska House of Representatives were up for election.

Background

Pre-election composition

Republicans formed a majority coalition during the 33rd Alaska State Legislature, consisting of 19 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and 2 Independents. Republican Cathy Tilton was elected speaker and Dan Saddler served as majority leader. Independent Calvin Schrage served as minority leader of the minority coalition, consisting of 11 Democrats, 4 Independents, and 1 Republican. Republican David Eastman, continued to caucus with neither party.
Independent Josiah Patkotak resigned October 10, 2023, to become mayor of North Slope Borough. Republican Thomas Baker was appointed by Governor Mike Dunleavy to replace him.

Overview

Close races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:
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Retirements

Seven incumbents did not seek re-election.

Republicans

  1. District 8: Ben Carpenter retired to run for State Senate.
  2. District 9: Laddie Shaw retired.
  3. District 15: Tom McKay retired.
  4. District 28: Jesse Sumner withdrew from the ballot after the primary election.
  5. District 36: Mike Cronk retired to run for State Senate.

Democrats

  1. District 16: Jennie Armstrong retired.

Independents

  1. District 1: Dan Ortiz retired.

Defeated incumbents

Republicans

  1. District 10: Craig Johnson was defeated by fellow Republican Chuck Kopp
  2. District 22: Stanley Wright was defeated by Democrat Ted Eischeid
  3. District 27: David Eastman was defeated by fellow Republican Jubilee Underwood

Democrats

  1. District 18: Cliff Groh was defeated by Republican David Nelson
  2. District 38: Conrad McCormick was defeated by fellow Democrat Nellie "Unangiq" Jimmie

Independents

  1. District 40: Thomas "Ikaaq" Baker was defeated by Democrat Robyn "Niayuq" Burke

Government formation

On November 6, the day after the election, Independent Bryce Edgmon announced that a new majority coalition would be formed based on preliminary results. Once results finalized, Edgmon announced that he would serve as speaker, a role he previously held from 2017 to 2021, and Republican Chuck Kopp would serve as majority leader of the new majority coalition consisting of 14 Democrats, 5 Independents, and 2 Republicans. The remaining 19 Republicans would caucus in the minority. Eastman, the sole Republican who did not caucus with either side, lost re-election to Republican Jubilee Underwood.
The 34th Alaska State Legislature began on January 21, 2025, and new members took office the same day. The House was also majority women with 21 members for the first time in Alaska's history.

Detailed results

Certified candidate list:

District 1

Incumbent Independent Dan Ortiz declined to seek re-election. Republican Jeremy Bynum faced nonpartisan candidates Agnes Moran and Grant Echohawk, whom he defeated with 52% of the vote.

District 2

Incumbent nonpartisan Rebecca Himschoot was re-elected unopposed.

District 3

Incumbent Democrat Andi Story was re-elected unopposed.

District 4

Incumbent Democrat Sara Hannan ran for re-election unopposed.

District 5

Incumbent Republican Louise Stutes ran for re-election. She faced Libertarian Leighton Radner, whom she defeated by a 55-point margin.

District 6

Incumbent Republican Sarah Vance ran for re-election. In the primary she faced nonpartisans Brent Johnson and Alana Greear, and Republican Dawson Slaughter, with Vance, Johnson, and Greear advancing to the general election. In advance of the general election, Greear withdrew and endorsed fellow independent Johnson, and Slaughter was automatically advanced to the general election as a result. In the initial results, Vance and Johnson were only separated by a margin of three points, with Slaughter holding 9.4% of the vote. Slaughter's elimination in the first round resulted in Vance gaining a majority of the vote and defeating Johnson by a 5-point margin.

District 7

Incumbent Republican Justin Ruffridge ran for re-election. He defeated fellow Republican and former state representative Ron Gillham by 18 points.

District 8

Incumbent Republican Ben Carpenter declined to seek re-election, instead unsuccessfully running for state senate. Bill Elam, a member of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, and brigadier general John Hillyer both ran to succeed Carpenter. The two Republicans both ran on a conservative platform, with differences in support for renewable energy; with Elam being open to using renewables, while Hillyer wanted to expand Alaska's natural resource extraction, and support for state education funding; with Elam supporting "reasonable" increases while Hillyer opposed any increases in funding. Elam defeated Hillyer in a close race by a margin of 4 points.

District 9

Incumbent Republica Laddie Shaw declined to seek re-election. In the lead-up to the primary election, four candidates all announced campaigns to succeed Shaw, nonpartisan Ky Holland, as well as Republicans Lucy Bauer, Lee Ellis, and Brandy Pennington. Following the primary election, Ellis and Pennington withdrew, with the former endorsing Holland while the latter endorsing Bauer. District 9 was identified as a key district to both the incumbent Republican coalition and to the Democratic minority, which hoped to form a coalition of their own in the next legislative session. During the campaign Holland campaigned on forming a new bipartisan coalition in the state legislature to counter governor Mike Dunleavy. In the general election, Holland defeated Bauer by 9 points.

District 10

Incumbent Republican Craig Johnson ran for re-election.

District 11

Incumbent Republican Julie Coulombe defeated nonpartisan Walter Featherly.

District 12

Incumbent nonpartisan Calvin Schrage defeated Republican Joe Lurtsema.

District 13

Incumbent Democrat Andy Josephson defeated Republican Heather Gottshall.

District 14

Incumbent nonpartisan Alyse Galvin defeated Democrat Harry Kamdem.

District 15

Incumbent Republican Thomas McKay declined to seek re-election. Republican and former Senate majority leader Mia Costello defeated Democrats Denny Wells and Dustin Darden.

District 16

Incumbent Democrat Jennifer Armstrong declined to seek re-election. Two candidates initially filed to run, Democrat Carolyn Hall and Independent Nick Moe. Following the primary election, Moe withdrew and endorsed Hall, leaving her effectively unopposed. Despite having withdrawn, Moe was unable to have his name removed from the ballot as he failed to meet the withdrawal deadline. In the general election, Hall won a 14-point victory over Moe.

District 17

Incumbent Democrat Zack Fields ran for re-election unopposed.

District 18

Incumbent Democrat Cliff Groh ran for re-election. Groh was defeated by Republican and former state legislator David Nelson in a rematch from the 2022 election in this district.

District 19

Incumbent Democrat Genevieve Mina ran for re-election. She defeated Republican Kaylee Anderson as well as nonpartisan Russell Wyatt.

District 20

Incumbent Democrat Andrew Gray ran for re-election. He defeated Libertarian Scott Kohlhaas.

District 21

Incumbent Democrat Donna Mears ran for re-election. She defeated. Republican Aimée Sims

District 22

Incumbent Republican Stanley Wright ran for re-election. He was defeated by Democrat Ted Eischeid.

District 23

Incumbent Republican Jamie Allard ran for re-election. She defeated Democrat Jim Arlington.

District 24

Incumbent Republican Dan Saddler ran for re-election unopposed.

District 25

Incumbent Republican DeLena Johnson ran for re-election unopposed.

District 26

Incumbent Republican and Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton ran for re-election unopposed.

District 27

Incumbent Republican David Eastman ran for re-election. He was defeated by fellow Republican Jubilee Underwood.

District 28

Incumbent Republican Jesse Sumner initially ran for re-election. After the primary election, Sumner withdrew from the race, citing family concerns. Republican Elexie Moore defeated fellow Republican Steve Menard in the second round of ranked choice voting by a margin of 0.2%.

District 29

Incumbent Republican George Rauscher ran for re-election unopposed.

District 30

Incumbent Republican Kevin J. McCabe ran for re-election. He defeated fellow Republican Doyle Holmes

District 31

Incumbent Democrat Maxine Dibert ran for re-election. She defeated former state legislator Bart LeBon in a rematch from 2022.

District 32

Incumbent Republican Will Stapp ran for re-election. He defeated Democrat Gary Damron.

District 33

Incumbent Republican Mike Prax ran for re-election unopposed.

District 34

Incumbent Republican Frank Tomaszewski ran for re-election. He defeated fellow Republican Joy Beth Cottle.

District 35

Incumbent Democrat Ashley Carrick ran for re-election. She defeated Republican Ruben McNeill.

District 36

Incumbent Republican Mike Cronk declined to seek re-election, instead running for state senate. Initially, four Republicans filed to succeed Cronk; perennial candidate and legislative aide Pamela Goode, defense contractor Dana Mock, business owner Rebecca Schwanke, Cole Snodgress. Outside of the Republican field, one Democrat and one Libertarian filed to succeed Cronk, those two candidates being welder Brandon Kowalski and business owner James Fields respectively. During the primary campaign, three of the four Republican candidates agreed on most issues, while Goode, the more far right candidate, disagreed with the other Republicans in the race on most issues. Another additional split was with Cole, who supported increases to the state's education funding. Following the primary election, Snodgress and Mock withdrew from the ballot to help boost Schwanke's chances in the election, which allowed Fields to advance to the general election. Fields also withdrew from the race shortly after the primary, but had missed the deadline to have his name removed from the ballot.
During the general election campaign the two Republican candidates expressed concerns that the presence of two Republicans on the ballot, as well as not enough voters ranking both Republicans on their ballots, could lead to Kowalski, the Democratic candidate, winning the seat. In the general election, the vote split three ways between Schwanke, Kowalski, and Goode, with each having 35%, 33%, and 25% respectively. In the third and final round of ranked choice voting, Schwanke defeated Kowalski by a 13-point margin.

District 37

Incumbent nonpartisan Bryce Edgmon ran for re-election. He defeated fellow nonpartisan Darren Deacon by a wide margin.

District 38

Incumbent Democrat Conrad McCormick ran for re-election. During the primary he faced fellow Democrats Nellie Jimmie and Victoria Sosa, as well as Veterans of Alaska candidate Willy Keppel. During the 33rd Alaska State Legislature, McCormick was part of the Republican coalition which governed the state house. In late October, Sosa withdrew from the campaign and endorsed Jimmie, despite this she remained on the ballot. In the first round of voting, Jimmie led McCormick by roughly 4 points. In the final round of ranked choice voting, Jimmie defeated McCormick by 5 points.

District 39

Incumbent Democrat Neal Foster ran for re-election. He defeated Independence candidate Tyler Ivanoff.

District 40

Incumbent Republican Thomas Baker ran for re-election, but switched his party affiliation to "Undeclared". He was eliminated in the first round of ranked choice voting and defeated for re-election. Democrat Robyn Burke defeated fellow Democrat Saima Chase by a 21-point margin.