Mark Begich would not spoil a three-way governor’s race and give us the Alaska progressive or moderate’s worst nightmare — Gov. Mike Dunleavy. To the contrary, Begich presents an opportunity to vote for someone who will actually support progressives and provide a way forward. I challenge every Alaska Democrat and progressive to think critically about this race and to vote for the candidate our state needs.
As an Alaska Native woman and a Democrat, I voted for Walker in 2014 because I believed at the time it was the right thing to do for our state. Although I did not initially support him, I took a risk and cast my ballot for the Republican — it did not feel perfect, but voting to create the unity ticket was appropriate for our state at the time. We have a better choice now.
Walker promised that he would fix our budget problems, but where did that get us? I worked on legislative races in 2016 because I knew if we could flip certain districts we could create a coalition in the Statehouse that would work with Walker to fix our budget woes. Supporting candidates who would join a House or Senate coalition should have been the number one priority for Walker, right? No, it was difficult to get any response from the Walker administration, even though we were working hard to create a bipartisan House coalition to help advance the governor’s campaign goals.
Walker further disappointed when he publicly committed to run on the Democratic primary ballot in May of this year, but then never filed to do so. If he had stood by this promise, the ballot would not be split three ways.
Progressives supported Walker in 2014 because he promised an improvement from the Parnell administration. The fact that progressive values suffered under previous governors, however, does not mean that we have to settle for a second term of the Walker administration when there is a better and more effective candidate on the ballot. Walker’s slow-to-move tactics and lack of effort to build a bipartisan coalition have damaged our state. It is not enough to be politically independent, an executive also has to build and support his team, which Walker has barely even lifted a finger to do.
Alaskans need a leader who puts actions behind words. That leader is Begich. Begich has supported progressive candidates since his days on the Anchorage Assembly. He and his wife Deb are consistently headlining fundraisers, advising campaigns, and putting their own money, resources, and names behind advocates of a bipartisan coalition. This stands in stark contrast to Walker, who has been largely absent in this election cycle and the last one. Unlike Begich, it is clearly not Walker’s priority to build a coalition that would work for Alaska.
Join me, fellow Alaskans, and vote for Begich — a governor who will stand behind his campaign promises and support moderates and progressives all over the state. A vote for Begich is a vote for a pragmatic progressive willing to work with — and help — everyone.
• Agatha Erickson is Koyukon Athabascan and a born and raised Alaskan. In 2016, Agatha was a Bernie Sanders delegate to the Alaska State Democratic Convention. She worked for Mark Begich as his Rural Liaison in his United States Senate Office. She is starting her final year of law school at Columbia Law School.
