A longtime Mat-Su educator and Democrat has filed paperwork indicating she’s joining this year’s race for U.S. Senate in Alaska, challenging incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski and Trump-endorsed GOP candidate Kelly Tshibaka, among others.
Pat Chesbro organized her campaign committee, Chesbro for Alaska, in a Wednesday morning filing with the Federal Elections Commission.
Chesbro has been a teacher, Palmer High School principal, Mat-Su Borough School District superintendent and University of Alaska Anchorage instructor. She lost a 2014 bid for state Senate in the deeply conservative Mat-Su, drawing 27% of the vote against Republican Bill Stoltze.
When she formally files with the Alaska Division of Elections, Chesbro will become the only Democrat in the U.S. Senate race.
Anchorage Democratic state Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson ended her candidacy in March, saying she’d struggled to raise money.
Chesbro, reached by phone Wednesday morning, declined to comment until she formally files her candidacy with the state later in the day.