Anchorage Sen. Natasha von Imhof will not run for reelection or other office in 2022

JUNEAU — Republican Sen. Natasha von Imhof said Tuesday that she will not run for reelection to her West Anchorage state Senate seat and will not run for any other public office in 2022.

She announced her decision in a message posted on social media. That message said she “will be focusing on family for the foreseeable future.”

Von Imhof’s husband was diagnosed with cancer last year, and in a brief interview, she said that diagnosis was a factor in her decision, as was the recent death of her father, banker and philanthropist Ed Rasmuson.

In addition, von Imhof was recently named vice chair of the Rasmuson Foundation, the state’s largest philanthropic organization, and the state’s redistricting board placed her home in the district of a fellow Republican incumbent, Sen. Mia Costello.

Running against a colleague, particularly against a skilled campaigner like Costello, would be difficult, von Imhof said. She did not rule out a return to politics in the future.

Von Imhof’s decision leaves Costello the only candidate registered with the Alaska Division of Elections or the Alaska Public Offices Commission for the west Anchorage state Senate district that covers the west half of Spenard and the Sand Lake and Turnagain community council areas.

The boundaries of the district may change if legal challenges overturn the district lines drawn by Alaska’s redistricting board. The deadline for a candidate to enter the race is June 1.