Alaska is halfway through another legislative session where the Democratic minority in both houses is setting the agenda. They can do this because seven Republicans joined with them to form governing caucuses. Fortunately, this is an election year, and conservative voters can correct the situation by voting the seven out of office, but that will only be possible if they get Republican challengers. Unfortunately, no one has yet stepped up to run against them.
If the voters were able to remove the seven from office, it would not only turn the next legislature more conservative, but it would also be a powerful lesson to future GOP officeholders not to subvert the will of the voters.
However, no conservative has yet decided to mount a challenge against them, which made me wonder if the seven RINOs might actually represent relatively liberal districts, and their defections to the Democrats aligned with the will of their voters. To answer that question, I used the most reliable liberal/conservative indicator I could find, which is how their districts voted for president in the 2024 election. That data can be seen in Table 1.
The pink cells in Table 1 show House districts that Donald Trump won. The blue cells are districts that Kamala Harris won. An overwhelming 10 of the 12 House districts represented by one of the RINOs also supported Donald Trump in 2024, indicating that their districts have a strong conservative voter base. This tells me that the seven RINOs are defying the will of their voters when they joined the Democrat caucuses, meaning they must have had some other reason for doing so.
I spoke off the record with one of the Alaska GOP district chairs, and he indicated that the decision some Republicans made to join with the Democratic majority was, in his opinion, made for personal benefit or career advancement.
A perfect example of this is Rep Louise Stutes of Kodiak. As the price for selling her soul (joining the Democrat caucus), she was able to trade her party loyalty to become chair of the powerful House Rules Committee, which plays a crucial role. This position is the primary gatekeeper for all bills in the State House. No legislation advances unless the chair of the Rules Committee allows it. Meaning any House member who gets on the wrong side of Louise Stutes will never get their bills acted on. With Louise in control, good luck if you are a Republican in the minority.
Rep. Stutes is not only enjoying this powerful position, but she also intends to parlay it into a Senate seat. She has filed to run for the Senate seat in District C, which will be open when fellow RINO Senator Gary Stevens retires at the end of the current term. Stutes has received the endorsement of Stevens, who would like her to take his place in upper chamber. Evidently, there are benefits to being a well-connected crony in Kodiak.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Another thing my conversation with the Alaska GOP chair revealed is that the GOP district leadership in most districts is not actively recruiting people to run against the RINOs. The individual I talked to identifies as a conservative. He disagreed in principle with the legislator in his district who defected to join the Ds, but he wasn’t actively trying to recruit a primary challenger to run against them. He was taking a relatively hands-off approach and waiting to see if anybody volunteered to run, which I found disappointing, but not unexpected from Alaska’s weak Republican party.
With or without the help of the AK GOP, Alaska needs bold conservatives willing to step up and primary the seven RINOs. For anyone considering doing so, time is of the essence. The filing deadline is June 1st, which is less than 60 days away.
If we don’t get good candidates to run against the feckless seven, then we will end up with the same results in Juneau that we have now. The RINOs will be emboldened if they are not held accountable, and will take the lack of challengers as a validation of their treachery. Future legislatures with this mindset will find new ways to tax you, take even more of your PFD check, and advance their woke liberal agendas.
For conservatives who are still undecided about whether to run for office, consider that when the only people who run for office are snakes, we shouldn’t be surprised that we end up with a nest of vipers down in Juneau. Conservatives, your state needs you. Now is the time to step up and answer the call.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
20 Comments
Well said, Greg!
I’ll be glad to sign up to stuff envelopes for anybody wanting to seriously challenge any of the rhinos. We really don’t have time to waste time in Alaska these days.
Interesting. Is RINO now just a term for non MAGA? Because I thought Republicans cared about privacy yet Thiel is data basing everyone scraping social media and to classify citizens with their blessing. I thought Republicans cared about “free speech” yet this administration dictates who should be hired or fired or what should be appropriate to broadcast. I thought Republicans were fiscally conservative but they voted for the man who has added more to the national debt in 4 years than any other president in history. I thought Republicans were for the working man but they have done everything they can to strip away the value of your hard work and hand it billionaires. Tearing immigrants from their families and deporting them to prisons is so Christian. I’m sure Republicans are proud of the fact that their man has profited 1000% more in one year than all the Presidents in the last 100 years combined. I was in Louisiana last week. For the first time in my entire life I went to the gas station and they were out of regular unleaded. I hear from legitimate sources we are days or weeks away from that happening here. You have been conned. It started with Reagan eradicating any progressive tax structure and limiting anti trust enforcement. It continued with WMD and lax mortgage lending legislation and enforcement. The “TOO BIG TO FAIL” era added to it. The golden escalator ballooned the budget. 60-70% of the last “Cares ACT” is still sitting in the bank accounts of the wealthy that applied for it. The revenge tour is the nail in the coffin. All oversight stripped. $170 billion in tariffs that is going to cost billions to return. Pardons for million dollar donations. $350 million so Private Spurs can golf. Real republicans would oppose the large majority of that. Democrats are not perfect but have voice opposition to oligarchs and fascism. Sorry to say kind sir but RINOs are not the ones bringing the world to the edge of the cliff. All that is brought to you by MAGA.
TDS right here folks.
If by “RINO” you mean a Republican who is less focused on divisive “culture war” issues and more focused on “kitchen table” issues, I’ll take the RINO any day.
You consider growing government and government dependence a good thing then? Bloated budgets, power, control and personal benefit are all acceptable? Wow. Also, what ‘culture war’ issues are so insignificant to you?
That was an excellent article, Greg Sarber. I would like to see the faces and names of the seven RINOs we need to replace. Maybe some could be convinced to return to Republican values. It would help to identify possible candidates in targeted areas with a good chance to win, then we could be specific re who to help.
The culture war issues are what lead to more government, hence not focusing on some of the culture war issues allows government to grow. Sounds like you just want liberals in office
Well said Paul!!
Our state Republican party does seem to need a reset. I try to contribute to good candidates in other districts when I can, and I am with Liz above as I would willingly help with campaign tasks and have. My district, 29, is strong with lots of involvement and currently good conservative representation.It is a shame it isn’t that way across the state.
Bloated budgets?? Your Idol wants $200 billion for an illegal war and to double the Pentagon budget? Who’s going to pay for that? Not the Epstein Class. Our children will pay for it. 20% of the American budget goes to people over 60. 4.6% is spent on things our children need, education, food, after school programs etc… Republicans have been the bridge to the corporate oligarchy we see today. They are not fiscally conservative. The faux outrage about budgets is so tired. Working class Americans pay 22-35% in taxes. The Epstein class pays on average 3% through various loopholes. There have been proposals in the past for free college tuition that would cost 50 billion, 25% of what the stain wants for his Israel mission in Iran. Republicans have been a disaster for working class Americans, the war in Iraq, the financial crisis and tax break after tax break for the Epstein class. MAGA is even worse. Wake up! The Waltons have all your money because it is easy for Republicans to just say “trans” and every simple minded MAGAn hands them their money.
We need to end the gatekeeping at the district level. We need to encourage more grassroot younger people to show up at district conventions and vote out the old guard.
The goal is not to vote out the “old guard” just the thought of it is very threatening and thr old guard never will let down their guard. They’ll always be suspicious. The goal would be learn the rules the game whether the members are GenAlpha, GenZ, Millennials or GenY and play their game by the rules, do it better, and graciously in eloquence and etiquette. Earn their trust. But there is a catch the newer leaders have to be grounded in Christ so they don’t lose themselves in a playing field with leaders who likely do not know Christ. Else without Christ they’ll rise up but will be just like the old guard.
If you don’t want to be labeled a “Rhino” be a team player and stick with other Republican Party leaders even if your disagree with other Republican members or the minority or majority leader decisions. There is no i in Team. A Republican leader was elected not so much because of himself but that he’ll be a team member. An elephant is only as powerful when he stays with its Herd.
And we do have a lot of Republican Elephants who when they look in the mirror they thinking they are seeing a Donkey like a boy who thinks he is a girl. That’s because of failures of leadership by the AKGOP chair and staff over the last fifteen years and its committee and districts. They elected Elephants suffering under an identity issue.
Kevin maccabe: alias Mr potato head! RHINO!!!
Calling yourself conservative or Christian is offensive. You are all MAGA. That is something totally different. Conservatives didn’t try to unconstitutionally subvert the 2020 election and Christians don’t vote to separate families and export non criminal immigrants to prisons.
The AKGOP actively discourages conservative candidates from running. When they do run it often actively fights against them, even when they are the Republican Party endorsed candidate, such as when Joe Miller was the Republican Nominee against Lisa Murkowski or when I was the Republican endorsed candidate against Jubilee Underwood. My opponent received more than 73% of votes from Kamala Harris voters in my race. That didn’t stop the AKGOP from pulling out the stops to support her anyway. If you are supporting the AKGOP while it is discouraging conservative candidates from running you are part of the problem.
Same coin …. Different sides
That took guts to say David Eastman! You got my respect!
Problem is it has to be someone that can win. We have many candidates, but not always excellent ones. If no one has ever asked you to run for anything probably not a good idea. If you don’t have at least 5-10 friends willing to donate $500 each, you probably should not run. If you have never been involved in politics before it is going to be a steep climb. Are you a person that can stand nasty things said about you? If not, you probably should not run. Are you a person that can’t work with others so you sit in Juneau without getting anything done? Can you convince others to join you on a bill without giving up your core values? Then you probably should not run. So, running for office is more than just a conservative stepping forward.