Dunleavy appoints Rauscher and Tilton to Alaska Senate, opening two House vacancies

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed state Reps. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, and Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, to two vacancies in the Alaska Senate.

Each nomination will become effective if at least five of the Senate’s nine other Republicans approve them. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said the votes will take place by secret ballot at 10 a.m. Saturday in Anchorage.

“Honestly, I think both of them are excellent candidates,” Stevens said on Wednesday, adding that he expects both to be confirmed.

If Rauscher and Tilton are confirmed, their House seats would become vacant, and Dunleavy would be required to appoint replacements within 30 days of their resignations.

The two Senate seats became vacant after Sen. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, resigned to run for lieutenant governor and Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, resigned to run for governor.

Dunleavy’s picks were due no more than 30 days after their resignations, but he acted earlier, which will allow the replacement legislators to take office before the regular legislative session convenes in January.

“I can’t think of two Alaskans more qualified and committed to public service to serve in the Alaska Senate than Representatives Rauscher and Tilton,” Dunleavy said in a statement announcing the selections. “I have known and worked with both for as long as I have been in public office and I look forward to working collaboratively with them as senators. I also want to thank the local Republican district committees for taking the time to meet, deliberate, and send forward names for these seats. This process works best when the people closest to the communities are involved.”

Tilton, first elected to the House in 2014, was Speaker of the House from 2023 through 2024. Reached by phone on Wednesday in the middle of Thanksgiving shopping, she referred to a statement on her Facebook page.

“I look forward to collaborating with my Senate colleagues to advance sensible policy solutions, foster an energy renaissance, and usher in an era of renewed prosperity for all Alaskans,” the statement said in part.

Rauscher said he’s already at work on a letter thanking Dunleavy for his appointment, but he declined to say what he thinks his confirmation chances are.

“It’s an honor,” Rauscher said of the appointment, “and I feel like it was quite the undertaking — the process — and to have it this close to seeing what the final outcome is, is always a relief in some ways, but it’s also very exciting that I am this close. So I appreciate the fact that the governor did consider me and thought highly enough of me to appoint me.”

Several senators said they expect Rauscher and Tilton to be confirmed, but each declined to say how he or she will vote, citing the need to work with them regardless.

Of the nine Republican senators who will be voting on this weekend’s confirmations, five are members of the Senate’s bipartisan majority caucus, and four are members of the Senate’s all-Republican minority.

Shower and Hughes were members of the House minority, and their replacements are expected to be as well.

Stevens said he’s conducting the confirmation vote by secret ballot in order to avoid the possibility of hurt feelings.

“I don’t want to have anybody have bad feelings when we start working together in January,” he said.

Stevens said he wants to give the House’s replacement process as much time as possible, since that will involve the appointment of two people new to the Legislature who will need to hire staff and uproot their lives in order to arrive in Juneau in January and be ready to work.

“I just want to make sure the House has all the time they need,” he said.

James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. A graduate of Virginia Tech, he is married and has a daughter, owns a house in Juneau and has a small sled dog named Barley.

Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.