While a “Red Wave” didn’t wash across Alaska in 2022, the project of renewing and restoring our religious, cultural and familial traditions must continue.

We’ve learned a lot in this election cycle. We know that the 2020 ranked-choice ballot initiative did nothing to curtail the massive flow of outside dark money into Alaska. We saw, once again, that the judge retention vote is a total farce with all 29 judges being approved, despite no meaningful information about who they are, what they stand for or how they rule.

We also saw the overwhelming power and influence that millions of dollars can buy when it comes to manipulating how Alaskans vote on a constitutional convention.

While Alaskans will likely send a majority of Republicans to the Legislature this year, a number of those Rs aren’t classic conservatives, and we can expect more of the same bipartisan compromise that most often marginalizes conservative lawmakers and their constituents.

There are some bright spots in the Mat-Su, where the burgeoning population seems to grow more conservative by the year. Additionally, conservative Kelly Tshibaka does hold a slim, tentative lead over Murkowski.

But by and large conservatives have some soul-searching to do when it comes to building strong, locally rooted alliances that can rival the shameless attempts to simply buy our votes.

Where conservatives do hold sway in local government, they must use their influence to unapologetically enact policies that promote the common good, while boldly and unapologetically educating, inspiring and uniting a determined and principled citizenry.

This is the generational work, which must always continue unabated this side of glory.

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