Democrats emerging from their 2026 convention in Cordova from April 16-18 said they are optimistic about opportunities to elect a Democrat as governor of Alaska and win legislative seats as well.
The Democratic contenders in the upcoming primary election for state governor include former state Senate Minority leader Tom Begich and current Sen. Matt Claman, both of Anchorage, as well as former Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins of Sitka.
Among the 12 Republican contenders in the gubernatorial race are former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson of Anchorage, former Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor of Anchorage, and former Senate Majority Leader Shelley Hughes of Homer. The Alaska Republican Party will host its convention from May 8-9 in Soldotna.
Eric Croft, the Democratic Party chair, said the establishment has seen a “lot of signs of progress.”
“We won the city mayoral race in Fairbanks,” he said. “We are for fish and ferries and we think we have a great opportunity to win in the Legislature and statewide.”
Croft said he’s also optimistic about Mary Peltola’s chances against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, for U.S. Senate. Peltola, who formerly served as Alaska’s lone U.S. House representative, has raised a substantial amount of money in the first quarter, according to Croft.
“We are going to be very competitive,” he said.
“It’s time to vote someone out who is not protecting Alaska,” Croft added. “Sullivan … had a chance to stand up for Alaska and he didn’t.”
“[The convention] was a lot of fun,” said Nancy Bird, a Cordova resident involved in coordinating the annual convention. “People seemed to feel like it was a good meeting to reconnect and get energized for the election.”
Approximately 130 registered Alaska Democrats came to the Cordova Center to participate in the convention, which former state Democratic chairperson Patti Higgins said “was an impressive amount of people who had to fly or take the ferry and find a place to stay in a small community.”
People from the National Democratic Committee were on hand there to train those in attendance on how to get out the vote, she said.
Higgins and her spouse Patrick Higgins both said they felt very welcome in Cordova.
“It was a good experience all the way down,” he said. “It was very welcoming. It was all just very fantastic. We felt very welcome and very relaxed. It’s a pretty cool little community.”
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