Mat-Su Voters Are Right to Be Upset over Last Week’s Shakeup in the Alaska House of Representatives
Contributed by Rep. David Eastman
Several Republican groups in the Mat-Su are currently waving the penalty flag over the recent shakeup in the Alaska House of Representatives, which effectively sidelined half of the Mat-Su’s six legislators.
Rep. DeLena Johnson (R-Palmer) shook things up when she threatened to oust the elected Republican Minority Leader (Rep. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage) halfway through her 2-year term. As minority leader, Costello served as spokesman for the nineteen Republican legislators in the House Republican Minority Caucus.
Rather than be extorted, Mia chose to immediately resign. Ten members of the 19-member Republican Caucus then met and voted to elect DeLena Johnson as the new minority leader and Rep. Justin Ruffridge (R-Soldotna) as the new minority whip.
The fact that the more liberal wing of the Republican Caucus took over, and that only ten of the nineteen members of the caucus were present for the vote, has led several Mat-Su Republican groups to cry “foul!”
Only three of the six Mat-Su house districts had representatives at the meeting when the vote was taken. Present were Rep. DeLena Johnson, Rep. Elexie Moore, and Rep. Jubilee Underwood. Not present for the vote were Rep. Kevin McCabe and legislators for the districts formerly represented by Rep. Cathy Tilton and Rep. George Rauscher, who were both recently appointed to the Alaska Senate by Governor Dunleavy.
A recent announcement by Rep. DeLena Johnson that she would allow the vote to take place again misses the point of course. As she proved by threatening to remove Rep. Costello during the middle of her term, a vote can happen anytime. The concern was that the vote was taken before some Republican legislators had even heard about it or had a chance to support a candidate of their choosing.
Ten legislators got together and decided that they were going to do what they were going to do regardless of what the other nine legislators had to say about it. Holding the vote a second time is simply a formality at this point, as the deed has already been done.
There are now two groups of Republicans, the ten more liberal legislators who have told themselves they “matter”, and the nine legislators who have been told, in so many words, “you don’t matter”. In other words, the new, less conservative, Republican Caucus has signaled that it will do just fine without input from roughly 49% of its members, including the voices of the 60,000 Mat-Su voters those legislators represent.”
This is how business is done in the Alaska Legislature in 2025.
To be candid, the liberal wing of the Republican Caucus (unaffectionately dubbed “RINO’s” by some) has operated like this for many years. They hold their votes in secret, and then they unlock the doors and let the more conservative legislators in to cast votes that no longer matter because the decisions have already been made.
The more liberal Republican legislators in the senate are no different. They did the same thing when Sen. Cathy Giessel was first elected as a conservative. They put her on ice for two years. When she emerged, she was an entirely different person. More to the point, she no longer represented the conservative voters who had helped her get elected. Since that time, she has represented the swamp in Juneau. It’s the way to curry favor with the lobbyists and with fellow legislators who tell themselves that “they matter”, while Mat-Su legislators who insist on being a voice for their voters are told “you don’t matter.”
The harm done, isn’t principally to legislators who get their feelings hurt, or don’t get the committee seats or the parking spaces at the capital they wanted. The true harm is to 120,000 Mat-Su voters, all of whom lose their representation in the Alaska House of Representatives when this kind of chicanery is permitted to take place year, after year, after year.
Rep. David Eastman represented the Mat-Su Valley in the Alaska House of Representatives from January 2017 to January 2025. Visit davideastman.org.