OPINION: Which U.S. House candidate will be most effective?

Alaska needs to elect the most qualified member of Congress to serve Alaska. What does that mean?

The United States House of Representatives (Congress) consists of two teams of elected members. The majority team runs the show. The minority team watches. The majority team elects its House leadership and its committees that craft all the legislation that comes to the House floor for a vote.

How does a member become a meaningful member of the majority, like a committee chair?

Consider the demographic description of the members of Congress. The average member is 57.9 years of age and has served 8.5 years in Congress. The average age of a new member is 47.8 years of age. These statistics are from the Congressional Research Service publication published on March 11, “Membership of the 118th Congress: A Profile.”

Advancing to Congressional leadership is critical in achieving Alaska’s goals. Congress has 23 committees currently run by Republican chairs. Rookies are not elected to chair a committee.

The current 23 chairs were in Congress for more than eight years before they were elected as committee chairs or even a ranking member of a committee. The data is skewed because most chairs on extremely important committees initially were selected to lead a lesser committee. Hence the time served to chair a major committee like Judiciary, Natural Resources or Rules would be much greater.

What does this mean for a typical legislator? Newly elected members are usually under age 50. That typical member will serve four terms in Congress before departing for other duties and interests.

Since the average committee chair was not elected to their position until after eight years in the House, the average member never participates in this leadership process. Alaska was well served by Congressman Don Young, who entered Congress at 39 and chaired major committees for 12 years. Sen. Ted Stevens did likewise, first entering Congress at 46. Sen. Lisa Murkowski began serving in the U.S. Senate when she was 45.

Let’s consider our two 2024 Republican Congressional candidates:

Nick Begich III will be 47 at the time of this year’s election. His age is similar to his new peers. As our congressman, he would compete with his peers for leadership positions as he serves on various committees of relevance to Alaskans. As he approaches 55 after eight years in Congress, he could be tapped for a committee leadership position.

Nancy Dahlstrom will be 67 on Election Day, a nominal two decades older than the typical new Congress member. By the time she has served eight years in Congress, she will be over 75. Her competitors for leadership roles will always be 20 years younger. Instead of being an active candidate for Republican House leadership, she would be approaching the end of her political career.

Why vote for someone who lacks the actuarial capacity to achieve seniority for Alaska?

Alaska needs someone with enough runway left to make a difference. Alaska needs Nick Begich III.

Randy Ruedrich served as Alaska Republican Party chairman from 2000 to 2013.

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