After 22 years in the Alaska Senate, Senate President Gary Stevens is retiring.
Stevens’ decision has been discussed in the Alaska Capitol for more than a year, but on Tuesday, it became official as Kodiak Republican Rep. Louise Stutes became the first person to announce that she will run for Stevens’ seat.
“I certainly will endorse Louise any way I can to help her out,” Stevens said on Wednesday. “She should be a really fine senator. She’s had a lot of experience in the House, and I think she’d do a great job, and I’d be glad to help her out in any way I can.”
Stutes filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission shortly after the Alaska Legislature adjourned its regular session for the year.
Legislators are forbidden from campaigning during the session, and the day after the first year of the legislative session typically marks the informal opening of the candidate filing period.
Campaigning typically doesn’t begin in earnest until after the second year of the legislative session.
Stutes’ early start may be a foreshadowing of things to come in the district: Stevens has represented the area covering Kodiak and the southern Kenai Peninsula since being appointed to the seat in 2003, making next year’s election a generational shift for the district.
Stutes said on Wednesday that fundraising doesn’t come naturally to her, “so I thought that I’d better get a jump start on it. You can’t get a jump start on it until you file your letter.”
Stutes said she doesn’t know whether there will be many candidates in the race.
Each of Alaska’s Senate districts includes two House districts. Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, represents the other half of Stevens’ district and hasn’t filed a letter of intent for next year’s elections. She did not return a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday afternoon.
Stutes noted that her husband, commercial fisherman Stormy Stutes, grew up in Anchor Point, and they still have family members who live in Vance’s district, so she has connections to that part of Alaska.
This isn’t the first time that Stevens has said he will retire, but it’s certain this time.
“I’m 83 now. I’ll be 85 when I retire, and I think that’s just enough,” he said by phone. “I have other plans, things I want to do. I wrote a play about Ted Stevens that was successful in Anchorage; I want to do another one. I’m a bit of a painter, and I want to go on and do painting and writing and concentrate on those things, as well as spend time with my grandkids.”
Stutes said she’s been interested in running to replace Stevens since that first abortive retirement.
“I’m really lucky. Gary and I get along really well. … He’s been wonderful to work with. I’ll really miss him, of course, because we have such a great working relationship,” she said.
Voters elected Stutes to replace longtime Kodiak lawmaker Alan Austerman in 2014 and reelected her five times since then. She has governed as a moderate Republican, frequently joining the House’s predominantly Democratic coalition and once served a term as speaker of the House.
“I’m like every legislator. I really feel like I’m helping my district and Alaskans. Right or wrong, I feel like I’ve been able to make a difference with the Marine Highway System. I believe I’ve been able to help bring fisheries to the forefront,” Stutes said. “When I first got elected years ago, I told Stormy that the one thing I want to do is take fisheries from the back burner and put them on the front burner. And I think that I’ve been somewhat successful in moving it forward.”
The Alaska Senate is currently controlled by a 14-person bipartisan coalition that includes nine Democrats and five Republicans. Three of those Republicans are up for reelection next year, and all are in potential swing districts.
Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Senate Majority Leader Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, said they will run for office again. Stevens is the third.
Among the coalition’s Democrats, Sens. Elvi Gray-Jackson, D-Anchorage, and Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, both confirmed that they will run for reelection.
Sens. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, and Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, have not yet filed letters of intent. Hoffman has been in the Legislature since 1987 and in the Senate since 1991, making him the longest-serving legislator in state history.
Senate Minority Leader Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, said on Wednesday that he hasn’t yet decided whether he will run for reelection.
Sens. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, and Rob Myers, R-North Pole, also face reelection next year. Neither returned a text message seeking comment on Wednesday.
Among incumbent members of the state House, Reps. Maxine Dibert, D-Anchorage, Carolyn Hall, D-Anchorage, and Donna Mears, D-Anchorage, have all filed letters of intent for reelection.
Former Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, announced that he will again seek to challenge Rep. David Nelson, R-Anchorage, in 2026. Nelson had been elected in 2020, lost to Groh in 2022 and defeated Groh in 2024.Through Wednesday afternoon, Groh was the only nonincumbent to file with the Public Offices Commission.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. This article originally appeared online at alaskabeacon.com. Alaska Beacon, an affiliate of States Newsroom, is an independent, nonpartisan news organization focused on connecting Alaskans to their state government.
