Former state Rep. Andrew Halcro announced Thursday that he intends to challenge 36-year U.S. Rep. Don Young in next year's Republican primary.

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Andrew Halcro

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Halcro, who has been best known recently as a blogger and talk radio host sharply critical of former Gov. Sarah Palin, announced his candidacy at a breakfast gathering of the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, a petroleum and mining industry group.

"I'm running for Congress because I agree with Don Young, and he said seniority matters," Halcro said later. "And right now, after the last election, he was stripped of his committee chairmanships. He's basically become an 18-term freshman."

"The Republicans look like they're going to pick up significant seats in 2010 and 2012. And here's the question: Does Alaska want a seat on the bus, or do we want to get left on the curb?"

The 76-year-old Young, Alaska's lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives since 1973, announced this summer he intends to seek another term. His wife, Lu, passed away later in the summer.

Young issued a statement Thursday emphasizing he remains in the race, saying that "my work is not done for the state of Alaska just yet."

Last December, after winning another re-election, Young agreed under Republican pressure to relinquish his committee leadership until his legal problems were resolved. Young has been under federal investigation for fundraising and other issues and reported spending more than $1 million in campaign contributions on legal fees. The status of the inquiry is unclear, and Young has consistently refused to discuss it.

"I love this State and have loved representing you for the past 36 years and because of that I am running for another term and I am running hard," Young's Thursday statement said. "Lu and I made the decision to run for re-election together, and I will continue to fight for her and for all Alaskans ...

"Through my seniority, my long-seeded friendships with many of the current chairman, and your support, we have been able to accomplish great things and together we can accomplish so much more."

Halcro said he hasn't seen that Young's relationships have helped to blunt "anti-Alaska" legislation in the U.S. House, such as the "cap-and-trade" climate bill. Halcro, 44, argued in an interview that Alaska needs someone of the new generation coming into Congress to start building seniority. He said the nation is looking at a doubling of the national debt and bankruptcy of Medicare in the next decade, and Alaska is going to need a representative with clout in Washington.

Halcro, who served two terms in the House representing the Sand Lake area of Anchorage, ran as an independent in the 2006 election for governor, finishing a distant third behind Palin and Tony Knowles. He's an executive with his family-owned rental-car business. In his speech to the Alaska Support Industry Alliance, Halcro said Alaska needs to push back against "an administration and an environment where people want to go against the oil and gas industry."

So far, one Democrat has said he intends to challenge Young: state Rep. Harry Crawford from East Anchorage. Crawford, who was at the speech where Halcro announced his challenge of Young, said in an interview afterward he was glad Halcro is running as a Republican and not as an independent, where he would face both the Republican and Democratic nominees in the general election.

"That would have split the vote and would have just put Don Young in office again," Crawford said.

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