Rep. Don Young stresses his village roots to AFN delegates

FAIRBANKS – U.S. Rep. Don Young calls remote Fort Yukon his Alaska home – a dependable reference for him that boosts his rural Alaska credentials.

But how much is he actually in the Yukon River village of fewer than 600 people?

On Friday, Young, a Republican who has held the office since 1973, suggested at the Alaska Federation of Natives candidate forum that he regularly experiences rough village life.

"I'm the only congressman whose home does not have any running water," Young told the AFN candidate forum. "I don't take a great deal of pride in that but it doesn't freeze up in the winter, I can tell you that right now."

That answer came when Young and Democratic challenger Steve Lindbeck were asked how they would engage with Alaska Native people.

Lindbeck, a former journalist and head of Alaska Public Media, said he would have an open door, listen and ensure Native people have a seat at the table.

"Alaska Native people will have my ear. You will have my heart," Lindbeck said.

Young said he has had an open door for 44 years. He told the Carlson Center crowd that many of them probably had walked through it. He remembers the start of AFN, now celebrating its 50th year, he said.

And, he stressed, he's the only one running from a rural area. Fort Yukon, at the confluence of the Yukon and Porcupine rivers, is about 145 miles northeast of Fairbanks.

Young said he knows how to live in a village. He knows the importance of subsistence, he said, as Liz Medicine Crow – the official time keeper for the forum – began beating a drum to signal that he was out of time.

Asked about those comments on Saturday, Young said he actually spends about 20 days a year in Fort Yukon, and never in winter. His place there indeed doesn't have running water and, he said, in winter it is "frozen up."

His Washington, D.C.-area home is in Great Falls, Virginia, and this year is valued for tax purposes at nearly $1 million, a drop from last year. He also has a place in Anchorage.

But his home on Main Street in Fort Yukon is the one that he always connects with, he said. It's where he is registered to vote.

"It's my house. It's my home. It's where I raised my kids. It's where I have my memories. It's where I have my heart," Young said. He was a school teacher there and it was in Fort Yukon that he met his first wife, Lu, who died in 2009. He remarried last year and was with wife Anne at AFN.

A staff member to Young noted that he had served as Fort Yukon's mayor and was elected to the Alaska Legislature from there.

Young said he hasn't lived in Fort Yukon full-time since he was elected to Congress. It is so remote and the job is too demanding.