Alaska was admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959. Alaska's United States Senate seats belong to class 2 and class 3. The state's current senators are Republicans Lisa Murkowski (serving since 2002) and Dan Sullivan (serving since 2015). A total of eight people have represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate. Ted Stevens was Alaska's longest serving U.S. senator, serving from 1968 to 2009.
Class 2Class 2 U.S. senators belong to the electoral cycle that has recently been contested in 2002, 2008, 2014, and 2020. The next election will be in 2026. |
C | Class 3Class 3 U.S. senators belong to the electoral cycle that has recently been contested in 2004, 2010, 2016, and 2022. The next election will be in 2028. | ||||||||||
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# | Senator | Party | Dates in office | Electoral history | T | T | Electoral history | Dates in office | Party | Senator | # | |
1 | Bob Bartlett |
Democratic | Jan 3, 1959 – Dec 11, 1968 |
Elected in 1958. | 1 | 86th | 1 | Elected in 1958. | Jan 3, 1959 – Jan 3, 1969 |
Democratic | Ernest Gruening |
1 |
Re-elected in 1960. | 2 | 87th | ||||||||||
88th | 2 | Re-elected in 1962.Lost renomination and then lost re-election as a write-in candidate. | ||||||||||
89th | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 1966.Died. | 3 | 90th | ||||||||||
Vacant | Dec 11, 1968 – Dec 24, 1968 |
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2 | Ted Stevens |
Republican | Dec 24, 1968 – Jan 3, 2009 |
Appointed to continue Bartlett's term.Elected in 1970 to finish Bartlett's term. | ||||||||
91st | 3 | Elected in 1968. | Jan 3, 1969 – Jan 3, 1981 |
Democratic | Mike Gravel |
2 | ||||||
92nd | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 1972. | 4 | 93rd | ||||||||||
94th | 4 | Re-elected in 1974.Lost renomination. | ||||||||||
95th | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 1978. | 5 | 96th | ||||||||||
97th | 5 | Elected in 1980. | Jan 3, 1981 – Dec 2, 2002 |
Republican | Frank Murkowski |
3 | ||||||
98th | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 1984. | 6 | 99th | ||||||||||
100th | 6 | Re-elected in 1986. | ||||||||||
101st | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 1990. | 7 | 102nd | ||||||||||
103rd | 7 | Re-elected in 1992. | ||||||||||
104th | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 1996. | 8 | 105th | ||||||||||
106th | 8 | Re-elected in 1998.Resigned when elected Governor of Alaska. | ||||||||||
107th | ||||||||||||
Dec 2, 2002 – Dec 20, 2002 |
Vacant | |||||||||||
Appointed to finish her father's term. | Dec 20, 2002 – present |
Republican | Lisa Murkowski |
4 | ||||||||
Re-elected in 2002.Lost re-election. | 9 | 108th | ||||||||||
109th | 9 | Elected to a full term in 2004. | ||||||||||
110th | ||||||||||||
3 | Mark Begich |
Democratic | Jan 3, 2009 – Jan 3, 2015 |
Elected in 2008.Lost re-election. | 10 | 111th | ||||||
112th | 10 | Lost renomination, but re-elected as a write-in candidate in 2010. | ||||||||||
113th | ||||||||||||
4 | Dan Sullivan |
Republican | Jan 3, 2015 – present |
Elected in 2014. | 11 | 114th | ||||||
115th | 11 | Re-elected in 2016. | ||||||||||
116th | ||||||||||||
Re-elected in 2020. | 12 | 117th | ||||||||||
118th | 12 | Re-elected in 2022. | ||||||||||
119th | ||||||||||||
To be determined in the 2026 election. | 13 | 120th | ||||||||||
121st | 13 | To be determined in the 2028 election. | ||||||||||
# | Senator | Party | Years in office | Electoral history | T | C | T | Electoral history | Years in office | Party | Senator | # |
Class 2 | Class 3 |
They Shall Have Stars, the first volume in science fiction writer James Blish's Cities in Flight series, was published in 1950 and is set in a fictional 2013. A major character is Alaska Senator Bliss Wagoner, head of the Joint Congressional Committee on Space Flight, who is depicted as playing a crucial role in Humanity's spread into space. At the time of writing, Alaska was not yet a state and had no senators, but Blish correctly assumed that this would come about by 2013.