Haines residents will take to the polls in November to elect a state senator and House representative.
Due to redistricting, Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka, and Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, no longer will represent Haines.
According to the new redistricting map, Haines will still be in Senate District Q, but will change from House District 34 to 33. The new House district includes Haines, Klukwan, Skagway, downtown Juneau, Douglas Island and Gustavus.
Rep. Sam S. Kito III, D-Juneau, who was appointed in February to complete Beth Kerttula’s term after she resigned, is running against Peter Dukowitz, R-Juneau, for the House District 33 seat.
Sen. Dennis Egan, D-Juneau, is being challenged by Tom Williams, R-Juneau, for the Senate District Q seat.
Despite filing a letter of intent in December to run for office, former Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Haines, decided to not seek either a House or Senate seat in the upcoming elections.
Thomas said Republican Party leaders discouraged him from running.
“When I talked to them, they said I have zero chance of winning,” Thomas said. “I’ve been around a long time and I can tell when people are being negative, and I got the impression they weren’t going to help me.”
Thomas wouldn’t specify which party leaders deterred him from running. Thomas did clarify he was never interested in seeking the House seat again – “Been there, done that” – but said he had wanted to try for the Senate seat.
Thomas said he was also disappointed the Republican candidate, Tom Williams, seems to be a relative unknown. “They put a guy on the ballot that nobody knows. I don’t know who he is, but I think I would have had a better chance than him,” Thomas said.
“Being politically astute, I’m going to vote for Dennis (Egan),” he added.
Thomas suspects he didn’t receive much support because he isn’t from Juneau. “They wanted someone from Juneau, not from outside. I think they’d be upset if somebody from outside of Juneau won.”
Thomas is looking at getting back into lobbying, and said he plans to approach the Haines Borough to see if they might consider hiring a Juneau lobbyist. “I think they’d be better off (with a Juneau lobbyist),” he said.
Rep. Kito is a lifelong Alaskan with 24 years of experience in engineering, economic development and government relations. He has lived in Juneau for 18 years.
Kito’s challenger, Republican Dukowitz, grew up on the Kenai Peninsula and has lived in Juneau since 2002. Dukowitz works for Alaska Electric Light and Power as a power grid dispatcher. For the past 10 years, he has been an advocate in Alaska insurance law.
Sen. Egan was appointed to the Alaska Senate by Gov. Sarah Palin in 2009. In 2010, he ran unopposed for the seat. Egan served as the Mayor of Juneau from 1995 to 2000.
Egan’s opponent, Democrat Tom Williams, moved to Juneau in 1977. He has worked for the Alaska Department of Revenue and the Alaska Division of Legislative Audit, and he also worked as a staffer for Alaskan senators Steve Frank and Bert Sharp.
Williams has worked in the private sector for the past 14 years as a financial officer for two aviation companies.