Alaska State Rep. David Nelson (R-Anchorage) has announced that he will not seek reelection in 2026, which leaves the door open for a strong conservative candidate to take his place.

It also opens the door, however, for Democrat Cliff Groh to retake the seat he lost to Nelson 2024. Groh has already filed for the seat.

Nelson is part of the 19-member Republican minority caucus, which has been largely sidelined by a 21-member Democrat-controlled majority that includes two Republicans – Chuck Kopp (Anchorage) and Louise Stutes (Kodiak) – who broke with their GOP colleagues to give Democrats control of the narrowly divided House.

Despite being in the minority, Nelson did help Democrats override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of $51 million in record education funding for Alaska’s chronically underperforming government-run school system. The governor opposed the historic spending increase as it was devoid of any meaningful accountability measures to ensure the money actually improved educational outcomes for Alaska’s students.

Nelson said he decided to step away from politics after “much thought, prayer, and conversations with people I know and trust.”

“This was not an easy decision. Serving in our Legislature has been one of the greatest honors in my life,” he announced on Nov. 10.

This coming summer, Nelson said he plans to marry his longtime friend Brianna who he’s known since college.

Nelson’s district includes a large military population around Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), where he served in the Alaska Army National Guard, and also worked as a civilian.

For the remainder of his term, Nelson said he wants to focus on working towards “a meaningful spending cap to protect our fiscal future, facilitating the expansion of military missions and forces in Alaska [and] renewing resource development and production.”

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