Former U.S. House candidate Alyse Galvin to run for Alaska Legislature

Alyse Galvin, the Democratic-endorsed U.S. House candidate in 2018 and 2020, will run for the Alaska Legislature in 2022, she said Monday.

Galvin has filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, but in a brief interview said she doesn’t yet know whether she will run for state House or state Senate. She will make that decision after the end of Alaska’s legally challenged redistricting process.

“I’m intending to run for Alaska Legislature. That’s the big news,” she said.

Galvin said she will run as an independent interested in joining a multiparty coalition.

Galvin’s decision means she likely will not challenge incumbent U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, for a third time. Galvin didn’t rule out another run for federal office but said it would take the equivalent of an “earthquake” to change her mind.

No registered Democrats have yet entered the race for U.S. House or U.S. Senate.

Galvin is a registered nonpartisan voter, and under Alaska’s newly redrawn legislative districts, she lives in a Midtown Anchorage state House district with no incumbents. Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, currently represents Galvin’s neighborhood but was redistricted into the same downtown Anchorage district as Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage.

Jim Wright, a Democratic candidate, has registered to run for state House in the district he shares with Galvin, which has the fifth-strongest Democratic lean of Alaska’s 40 state House districts, according to preliminary estimates.

Galvin’s prospective state Senate district is currently represented by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, but the Alaska Democratic Party is urging Gray-Jackson to run for U.S. Senate instead. If that happens, the Senate district would have no incumbent.

Galvin declined to discuss Gray-Jackson’s possible U.S. Senate run.

The situation could change entirely if state judges rule Alaska’s newly drawn legislative districts unconstitutional. Five lawsuits were filed against the proposal approved in November, and those cases have been combined into a single sprawling lawsuit that will be decided by Feb. 15.

An almost-certain appeal will place the issue in front of the Alaska Supreme Court, which must rule by April 1.

Before she decides which race to join, “I’m going to wait and let the redistricting kind of settle down for a minute,” Galvin said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported Jim Wright’s political affiliation and which state House lawmaker currently represents the neighborhood he and Alyse Galvin reside in. Wright is a registered Democrat and is running as a Democratic candidate, not as a nonpartisan. The neighborhood he and Galvin live in is currently represented by Rep. Andy Josephson, D-Anchorage, not Harriet Drummond, D-Anchorage.