Retired Air Force fighter pilot Mike Shower is seen after landing on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam on July 20, 2008. (U.S. Air Force by Airman 1st Class Courtney Witt)

Retired Air Force fighter pilot Mike Shower is seen after landing on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam on July 20, 2008. (U.S. Air Force by Airman 1st Class Courtney Witt)

Gov. Bill Walker appoints former F-22 pilot to vacant Alaska Senate seat

Gov. Bill Walker on Tuesday nominated a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot to fill the Alaska Senate seat vacated in January by Mike Dunleavy.

Mike Shower, former first commander of the first squadron of F-22 Raptors in Alaska, and a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, must be confirmed by a majority vote of Republicans in the Alaska Senate before taking the seat.

In a statement released Tuesday morning, Senate President Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, said he appreciated that the governor named someone from a list suggested by district Republicans. He added that the Senate’s 13 Republicans will meet “soon.” Spokesman Daniel McDonald said no date has yet been set.

Alaska Republican Party chairman Tuckerman Babcock likewise thanked Walker for picking one of the district’s nominees. “We are deeply appreciative of the fact that the governor has made an appointment from the nominees suggested by the Alaska Republican Party,” Babcock said. “I see absolutely no reason why he will not be confirmed.”

By email, Shower said he was thankful.

“I would like to express my gratitude to Republican leaders in District 10 for nominating me to serve the great people of Alaska in Senate District E,” he wrote. “I am also deeply honored by my appointment to that seat by Governor Walker. I look forward to to speaking with Senate leadership and to the Senate’s consideration of my appointment.”

Shower’s nomination comes less than a week after Senate Republicans rejected a prior pick by Walker and a second pick withdrew his name from consideration. In his first attempt to fill the vacancy, Walker selected Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Randall Kowalke, but Senate Republicans voted his nomination down because Kowalke was not on the list of three nominees forwarded by Senate District E Republicans.

The Alaska Constitution and Alaska law require the governor to fill a legislative vacancy within 30 days. The replacement lawmaker must be of the same party and district of the departed lawmaker, and fulfill all constitutional requirements for the job.

Alaska’s Republican and Democratic parties have created procedures that allow local party officials to draft short lists of candidates to guide the governor’s decision, but the governor is not bound by those lists.

After Kowalke was rejected, the governor nominated Tom Braund, a Mat-Su Republican who was among the three nominees offered by the district.

After the nomination, Alaska reporters uncovered social media posts by Braund that appeared to advocate the murder of abortion providers and compared women to dogs.

Braund withdrew his name from consideration when the posts became public knowledge.

Walker and his staff are now expected to turn their attention to the vacancy in Southwest’s House District 38. That seat has been vacant since the resignation of Zach Fansler earlier this month. Democrats nominated three candidates for the seat after a series of weekend interviews.


• Contact reporter James Brooks at james.k.brooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.


More in News

Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File
The Aurora Borealis glows over the Mendenhall Glacier in 2014.
Aurora Forecast

Forecasts from the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute for the week of March. 19

President Joe Biden speaks during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 23, 2023, celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Affordable Care Act. Recent moves by President Joe Biden to pressure TikTok over its Chinese ownership and approve oil drilling in an untapped area of Alaska are testing the loyalty of young voters, a group that’s been largely in his corner. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
Biden’s moves on Willow, TikTok test young voters

A potential TikTok ban and the Alaska drilling could weigh down reelection bid.

Students dance their way toward exiting the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé gymnasium near the end of a performance held before a Gold Medal Basketball Tournament game between Juneau and Hydaburg. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)
Over $2,500 raised for Tlingit language and culture program during Gold Medal performance

A flurry of regionwide generosity generated the funds in a matter of minutes.

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

The FBI Anchorage Field Office is seeking information about this man in relation to a Wednesday bank robbery in Anchorage, the agency announced Thursday afternoon. Anyone with information regarding the bank robbery can contact the FBI Anchorage Field Office at 907-276-4441 or tips.fbi.gov. Tips can be submitted anonymously.  (FBI)
FBI seeks info in Anchorage bank robbery

The robbery took place at 1:24 p.m. on Wednesday.

Kevin Maier
Sustainable Alaska: Climate stories, climate futures

The UAS Sustainability Committee is hosting a series of public events in April…

Reps. Tom McKay, R-Anchorage, and Andi Story, D-Juneau, offering competing amendments to a bill increasing the per-student funding formula for public schools by $1,250 during a House Education Committee meeting Wednesday morning. McKay’s proposal to lower the increase to $150 was defeated. Story’s proposal to implement an increase during the next two years was approved, after her proposed amounts totalling about $1,500 were reduced to $800.
Battle lines for education funding boost get clearer

$800 increase over two years OKd by House committee, Senate proposing $1,348 two-year increase

A call for a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature to cast a vote that would reject recently-approved salary increases for legislators and top executive branch officials is made by State House Speaker Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, during a press conference Tuesday. Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, rejected the joint session in a letter to Tilton on Wednesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
House efforts to nix legislative pay raises hit Senate roadblock

Call for a joint session rejected by upper chamber, bills to overturn pay hikes may lack support

A simulated photo shows the tailings stack and other features of Hecla Greens Creek Mine under the most aggressive of four alternatives for expanding the mine in an environmental impact assessment published Thursday by the U.S Forest Service. The tailings stack is modestly to drastically smaller in the other alternatives. The public comment period for the study is from March 24 to May 8. (U.S. Forest Service)
New study digs into alternatives for Greens Creek Mine expansion

Public comment starts Friday on four options that could extend mine’s life up to 40 years

Most Read