Mat-Su’s legislative races may shift people, but not party affiliation and philosophy

Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Rob Yundt has jumped into the state Senate race for the seat now held by Mat-Su Sen. David Wilson. Stephen Wright, who is a Republican like Wilson and Yundt, is also vying for the Senate District “R” seat now held by Wilson.

Yundt is a home building contractor and Wilson has a professional background in health care.

Two other senators representing the Mat-Su, Republican Sens. Shelley Hughes and Mike Shower, are not up for reelection in 2024 and will be back in Juneau in January. Alaska’sm 20 senators serve four-year terms and their terms are staggered so that only 10 are up for reelection in an election cycle.

Members of the 40-member state House, in contrast, serve two-year terms and stand for reelection in every primary and general election. The primary election is held in August with the general election in November.

All six of the Mat-Su members of the state House are up for reelection this year but two of them, Reps. Cathy Tilton, of Wasilla, and DeLena Johnson, of Palmer, face no opponents.

Tilton is Speaker of the House in the current Legislature and Johnson was cochair of the House Finance Committee.

Four other Mat-Su members of the House do have opponents, however. The most contested race will be in the Wasilla district now represented by Jesse Sumner. Steve Menard, Jessica Wright and Elexie Moore, all Republicans like Sumner, are vying for the seat.

Wright and Menard ran previously against Sumner for the House.

David Eastman, of Wasilla, has an opponent in Jubilee Underwood. Both are Republican.

Kevin McCabe, who now represents Big Lake, Talkeetna and the Denali area, also faces a challenge in Doyle Holmes, who ran previously for McCabe’s seat. Holmes is a Republican, like McCabe.

George Rauscher, of Sutton, also has an opponent in Bruce Wall, who does not designate a party affiliation. Rauscher’s district extends from Sutton to Glennallen and Valdez.

In general, the candidate filings show that the Mat-Su delegation may change in terms of some of the people elected but not in party affiliation or basic philosophy.

One point of interest is that Wilson joined with 16 other senators, Republicans and Democrats, to form the coalition organization that controlled the state Senate in 2023 and 2024. The two other Mat-Su senators, Shelley Hughes and Mike Shower, did not join the coalition and as a result were outside of the leadership.

Wilson was part of the coalition and was chosen to chair the Senate Health and Social Services Committee.

Working with Democrats in a coalition may subject Wilson to some criticism but others say it’s important for Mat-Su to have at least one person in the Senate’s leadership who will be able to look after regional concerns and get support for those.