Alaska Democratic Party

Political party in Alaska

Alaska Democratic Party

Chairperson| Mike Wenstrup
House Leader| Calvin Schrage (Independent, Minority Caucus)
Senate Leader| N/A (Bipartisan Coalition)
Headquarters| PO Box 240207,
Anchorage, Alaska 99524
Membership (2024)| 73,963[1]
Ideology| Modern liberalism
National affiliation|  Democratic Party
Colors|   Blue
Seats in the U.S. Senate|

0 / 2

Seats in the U.S. House of Representatives|

0 / 1

Statewide Executive Offices|

0 / 2

Seats in the State Senate|

9 / 20[a]

Seats in the State House of Representatives|

14 / 40[b]

Election symbol
Website
www.alaskademocrats.org

* Politics of Alaska
* Elections

The Alaska Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Alaska, headquartered in Anchorage.

It is one of two major parties in Alaska, alongside the Alaska Republican Party. The Democratic Party holds the Alaska Senate in a coalition government.[a][2] As of 2020, there are over 75,000 registered members of the Alaska Democratic Party.[3]

## History

[edit]

In 1949, the Young Democrats of Alaska was established as a group.[4] Except in U.S. presidential elections, the Alaska Democratic Party was very successful in the early days of statehood and the late territory days (pre-1959), featuring such characters as territorial governor and later national senator Ernest Gruening. Gruening was one of only two senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized an expansion of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Bob Bartlett, also a Democrat, and erstwhile secretary of the territory, was the first senator from Alaska, and remained a senator until his death in 1968. William A. Egan, also of the Alaska Democratic Party, was elected the first governor of the State of Alaska. Until the election of governor Bill Walker, he was the only governor of Alaska of either party to have been born in Alaska. In the U.S. House meanwhile, Democrat Ralph J. Rivers was the state's first representative from statehood until 1967.

In the aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Ted Kennedy, representing Senator Robert Kennedy (of New York), in the presence of Senator Gruening, gave a historic speech on the island-community of Sitka, Alaska.[5][6] Democrat Mike Gravel was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1968 and served for two terms until his defeat in the Democratic primary in 1980 (Republicans ultimately picked up the seat in the general). By the end of 1973, Gravel was the only Alaska Democrat remaining in federal office, as the state's House seat and other Senate seat had switched hands to Republicans. After Gravel left office, Democrats would not hold any seats in Alaska's congressional delegation again for almost three decades.

### Notable U.S. House elections

[edit]

On October 16, 1972, Alaska's incumbent Democratic congressman Nick Begich went missing in a plane crash along with House Majority Leader Hale Boggs en route to Juneau from Anchorage. In spite of this, three weeks later, Begich won re-election to his seat. However, he was later declared dead on December 29 of that year after an intensive search effort.[7] Neither Begich's body nor the plane he flew on were ever found.

In a special election held shortly thereafter in 1973, Republican Don Young (who had previously lost to the late Begich) won election to the seat and held it until his death while in office in 2022. In the special election held after Young's death, Democrat Mary Peltola won Alaska's at-large congressional seat, flipping the seat to Democrats for the first time in almost 50 years.[8] Peltola would be elected a full term in November of that year.

### Other recent history

[edit]

The most recent Democrat to serve as Governor of Alaska was Tony Knowles, who served from 1994 to 2002, while the most recent Democrat to hold statewide executive office in Alaska was Byron Mallott, who served as Lieutenant Governor under independent governor Bill Walker from 2014 until his resignation in 2018 after a scandal.[9]

Democrat Barack Obama won the 2008 Democratic caucuses in Alaska by a margin of more than three to one over Hillary Clinton, a higher percentage than any state except Idaho. He then received 37.89 percent of the total statewide vote in the general election, losing the state to Republican John McCain, who had selected then-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. In the same election year, Democrat Mark Begich narrowly won election to the U.S. Senate over longtime Republican incumbent Ted Stevens. Begich lost re-election in 2014,[10] the same year that Democratic-endorsed independent Bill Walker defeated incumbent Republican Sean Parnell for Governor.[11]

In 2012, President Obama lost the state to Republican Mitt Romney but increased his percentage of the statewide vote to 40.81%. This was later used as evidence in a high-profile New York Times article detailing the complexity of Alaska politics and the difficulty in predicting the electability of Democrats in the state.[12] In 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump carried the state by around fifteen percentage points over Hillary Clinton. No Democrat has carried Alaska in presidential elections since 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson had his landslide victory over Barry Goldwater.

Following the 2022 Alaska Senate elections, nine Democrats joined with eight Republicans to form a majority caucus and split several senate posts between them.[13]

## Party organization

[edit]

### Party leadership

[edit]

The leadership of the Alaska Democratic Party consists of the following individuals:[14]

* Chair - Eric Croft[15]
* Vice Chair - Jessica Cook
* Secretary - Katherine Pfeiffer
* Treasurer - Monica Southworth
* National Committeewoman - Brenda Knapp
* National Committeeman - Charles Degnan

### Party functions

[edit]

The Alaska Democratic Party performs many functions, all with the aim of helping Democrats to win elected office within the state.

These functions include:[3]

* The organization and recruitment of citizens to go door to door for the party and promote the party issues and candidates.
* The coordination of statewide campaigns for the general election every two years.
* Working to get articles into newspapers, letters to the editors written, and callers on talk radio stations.
* Operating the official Alaska Democratic Party website.
* Sending out email announcements to Democrats regarding party activities.
* Operating a state Voter File.

## Current elected officials

[edit]

### Members of Congress

[edit]

#### U.S. Senate

[edit]

* None

#### U.S. House of Representatives

[edit]

* None

## Election results

[edit]

### Presidential

[edit]

Alaska Democratic Party presidential election results  Election  | Presidential Ticket  | Votes  | Vote %  | Electoral votes  | Result

|
|
|
|
|

1960 | John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson | 29,809  | 49.06%  |

0 / 3

| Won
1964 | Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey | 44,329  | 65.91%  |

3 / 3

| Won
1968 | Hubert Humphrey/Edmund Muskie | 35,411  | 42.65%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
1972 | George McGovern/Sargent Shriver | 32,967  | 34.61%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
1976 | Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale | 44,058  | 35.65%  |

0 / 3

| Won
1980 | Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale | 41,842  | 26.41%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
1984 | Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro | 62,007  | 29.87%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
1988 | Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen | 72,584  | 36.27%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
1992 | Bill Clinton/Al Gore | 78,294  | 30.29%  |

0 / 3

| Won
1996 | Bill Clinton/Al Gore | 80,380  | 33.27%  |

0 / 3

| Won
2000 | Al Gore/Joe Lieberman | 69  | 27.67%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
2004 | John Kerry/John Edwards | 111,025  | 35.52%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
2008 | Barack Obama/Joe Biden | 123,594  | 37.89%  |

0 / 3

| Won
2012 | Barack Obama/Joe Biden | 122,640  | 40.81%  |

0 / 3

| Won
2016 | Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine | 116,454  | 36.55%  |

0 / 3

| Lost
2020 | Joe Biden/Kamala Harris | 153,778  | 42.77%  |

0 / 3

| Won
2024 | Kamala Harris/Tim Walz | 140,026  | 41.41%  |

0 / 3

| Lost

### Gubernatorial

[edit]

Alaska Democratic Party gubernatorial election results  Election  | Gubernatorial ticket  | Votes  | Vote %  | Result

|
|
|
|

1958 | William A. Egan/Hugh Wade | 29,189  | 59.61%  | Won Y
1962 | William A. Egan/Hugh Wade | 29,627  | 52.27%  | Won Y
1966 | William A. Egan/Hugh Wade | 32,065  | 48.37%  | Lost N
1970 | William A. Egan/Red Boucher | 42,309  | 52.38%  | Won Y
1974 | William A. Egan/Red Boucher | 45,553  | 47.37%  | Lost N
1978 | Chancy Croft/Katie Hurley | 25,656  | 20.22%  | Lost N
1982 | Bill Sheffield/Steve McAlpine | 89,918  | 46.12%  | Won Y
1986 | Steve Cowper/Steve McAlpine | 84,943  | 47.31%  | Won Y
1990 | Tony Knowles/Willie Hensley | 60,201  | 30.91%  | Lost N
1994 | Tony Knowles/Fran Ulmer | 87,693  | 41.08%  | Won Y
1998 | Tony Knowles/Fran Ulmer | 112,879  | 51.27%  | Won Y
2002 | Fran Ulmer/Ernie Hall  | 94,216  | 40.70%  | Lost N
2006 | Tony Knowles/Ethan Berkowitz | 97,238  | 40.97%  | Lost N
2010 | Ethan Berkowitz/Diane E. Benson | 96,519  | 37.67%  | Lost N
2014 | Endorsed Bill Walker/Byron Mallott (Independents) | N/A  | N/A  | Did not run
2018 | Mark Begich/Debra Call  | 125,739  | 44.41%  | Lost N
2022 | Les Gara/Jessica Cook  | 63,851  | 24.21%  | Lost N

## See also

[edit]

* Political party strength in Alaska
* List of state parties of the Democratic Party (United States)
* 2020 Alaska Democratic primary

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ a b 9 Democrats are part of a grand coalition with 8 Republicans.
2. ^ 14 Democrats are part of a grand coalition with 2 Republicans and 5 Independents.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Alaska Division of Elections".
2. ^ "Partisan composition of state houses". Ballotpedia.
3. ^ a b "Alaska Democrats - What We Do". Retrieved 2020-02-20.
4. ^ "Akyd". Archived from the original on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
5. ^ "Senator Kennedy talks to the Alaska Democratic Party about civil rights". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
6. ^ "AMRC. Steve McCutcheon Collection". vilda.alaska.edu.
7. ^ "The Mysterious disappearance of Cessna N1812H". 15 August 2019. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
8. ^ Gedeon, Joseph (August 31, 2022). "Democrat Peltola beats Palin in Alaska special election upset". POLITICO. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
9. ^ "The plot thickens on Mallott resignation". mustreadalaska.com. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
10. ^ "AP: Sullivan beats Begich in Alaska". POLITICO.
11. ^ Jaime Fuller (19 November 2014). "A bipartisan 'unity ticket' actually won this year. That's rare". Washington Post.
12. ^ "Alaska Might Be More Friendly to Democrats Than It Appears". The New York Times. 21 August 2014.
13. ^ "Alaska Democrats, Republicans form coalition Senate majority". AP NEWS. 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2023-04-22.
14. ^ "Our Leadership". Retrieved 2021-08-07.
15. ^ https://alaskademocrats.org/meet-the-staff/

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Democratic Party

* History
* Second Party System
* Third Party System
* Fourth Party System
* Fifth Party System
* Sixth Party System

National
conventions,
presidential
tickets,
and
presidential
primaries|

* 1828 (None): Jackson/Calhoun
* 1832 (Baltimore): Jackson/Van Buren
* 1835 (Baltimore): Van Buren/R. Johnson
* 1840 (Baltimore): Van Buren/None
* 1844 (Baltimore): Polk/Dallas
* 1848 (Baltimore): Cass/Butler
* 1852 (Baltimore): Pierce/King
* 1856 (Cincinnati): Buchanan/Breckinridge
* 1860 (Charleston/Baltimore): Douglas/H. Johnson (Breckinridge/Lane, SD)
* 1864 (Chicago): McClellan/Pendleton
* 1868 (New York): Seymour/Blair
* 1872 (Baltimore): Greeley/Brown
* 1876 (St. Louis): Tilden/Hendricks
* 1880 (Cincinnati): Hancock/English
* 1884 (Chicago): Cleveland/Hendricks
* 1888 (St. Louis): Cleveland/Thurman
* 1892 (Chicago): Cleveland/Stevenson I
* 1896 (Chicago): W. Bryan/Sewall
* 1900 (Kansas City): W. Bryan/Stevenson I
* 1904 (St. Louis): Parker/H. Davis
* 1908 (Denver): W. Bryan/Kern
* 1912 (Baltimore): Wilson/Marshall
* primaries
* 1916 (St. Louis): Wilson/Marshall
* primaries
* 1920 (San Francisco): Cox/Roosevelt
* primaries
* 1924 (New York): J. Davis/C. Bryan
* primaries
* 1928 (Houston): Smith/Robinson
* primaries
* 1932 (Chicago): Roosevelt/Garner
* primaries
* 1936 (Philadelphia): Roosevelt/Garner
* primaries
* 1940 (Chicago): Roosevelt/Wallace
* primaries
* 1944 (Chicago): Roosevelt/Truman
* primaries
* 1948 (Philadelphia): Truman/Barkley
* primaries
* 1952 (Chicago): Stevenson II/Sparkman
* primaries
* 1956 (Chicago): Stevenson II/Kefauver
* primaries
* 1960 (Los Angeles): Kennedy/L. Johnson
* primaries
* 1964 (Atlantic City): L. Johnson/Humphrey
* primaries
* 1968 (Chicago): Humphrey/Muskie
* primaries
* 1972 (Miami Beach): McGovern/(Eagleton, Shriver)
* primaries
* 1976 (New York): Carter/Mondale
* primaries
* 1980 (New York): Carter/Mondale
* primaries
* 1984 (San Francisco): Mondale/Ferraro
* primaries
* 1988 (Atlanta): Dukakis/Bentsen
* primaries
* 1992 (New York): B. Clinton/Gore
* primaries
* 1996 (Chicago): B. Clinton/Gore
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* 2000 (Los Angeles): Gore/Lieberman
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* 2004 (Boston): Kerry/Edwards
* primaries
* 2008 (Denver): Obama/Biden
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* 2012 (Charlotte): Obama/Biden
* primaries
* 2016 (Philadelphia): H. Clinton/Kaine
* primaries
* 2020 (Milwaukee/other locations): Biden/Harris
* primaries
* 2024 (Chicago): Harris/Walz
* primaries

Presidential
administrations|

* Jackson (1829–1837)
* Van Buren (1837–1841)
* Polk (1845–1849)
* Pierce (1853–1857)
* Buchanan (1857–1861)
* A. Johnson (1868–1869)
* Cleveland (1885–1889; 1893–1897)
* Wilson (1913–1921)
* Roosevelt (1933–1941; 1941–1945)
* Truman (1945–1953)
* Kennedy (1961–1963)
* L. B. Johnson (1963–1969)
* Carter (1977–1981)
* Clinton (1993–2001)
* Obama (2009–2017)
* Biden (2021–2025)

U.S. House
leaders,
Speakers,
and
Caucus
chairs|

* A. Stevenson (1827–1834)
* Bell (1834–1835)
* Polk (1835–1839)
* J. W. Jones (1843–1845)
* Davis (1845–1847)
* Cobb (1849–1851)
* Boyd (1851–1855)
* G. W. Jones (1855–1857)
* Orr (1857–1859)
* Houston (1859–1861)
* Niblack/Randall (1869–1871)
* Niblack (1873–1875)
* Kerr (1875–1876)
* Randall (1876–1881)
* Carlisle (1883–1889)
* Holman (1889–1891)
* Crisp (1891–1895)
* D. B. Culberson (1895–1897)
* Richardson (1897–1903)
* Williams (1903–1909)
* Clark (1909–1921)
* Kitchin (1921–1923)
* Garrett (1923–1929)
* Garner (1929–1933)
* Rainey (1933–1934)
* Byrns (1935–1936)
* Bankhead (1936–1940)
* Rayburn (1940–1961)
* McCormack (1962–1971)
* Albert (1971–1977)
* O'Neill (1977–1987)
* Wright (1987–1989)
* Foley (1989–1995)
* Gephardt (1995–2003)
* Pelosi (2003–2023)
* Jeffries (2023–present)

U.S. Senate
leaders
and
Caucus
chairs|

* J. W. Stevenson (1873–1877)
* Wallace (1877–1881)
* Pendleton (1881–1885)
* Beck (1885–1890)
* Gorman (1890–1898)
* Turpie (1898–1899)
* J. K. Jones (1899–1903)
* Gorman (1903–1906)
* Blackburn (1906–1907)
* C. A. Culberson (1907–1909)
* Money (1909–1911)
* Martin (1911–1913)
* Kern (1913–1917)
* Martin (1917–1919)
* Hitchcock (1919–1920)
* Underwood (1920–1923)
* Robinson (1923–1937)
* Barkley (1937–1949)
* Lucas (1949–1951)
* McFarland (1951–1953)
* Johnson (1953–1961)
* Mansfield (1961–1977)
* Byrd (1977–1989)
* Mitchell (1989–1995)
* Daschle (1995–2005)
* Reid (2005–2017)
* Schumer (2017–present)

Chairs of
the DNC|

* Hallett
* McLane
* Smalley
* Belmont
* Schell
* Hewitt
* Barnum
* Brice
* Harrity
* Jones
* Taggart
* Mack
* McCombs
* McCormick
* Cummings
* White
* Hull
* Shaver
* Raskob
* Farley
* Flynn
* Walker
* Hannegan
* McGrath
* Boyle
* McKinney
* Mitchell
* Butler
* Jackson
* Bailey
* O'Brien
* Harris
* O'Brien
* Westwood
* Strauss
* Curtis
* White
* Manatt
* Kirk
* Brown
* Wilhelm
* DeLee
* Dodd/Fowler
* Romer/Grossman
* Rendell/Andrew
* McAuliffe
* Dean
* Kaine
* Wasserman Schultz
* Perez
* Harrison
* Martin

State and
territorial
parties|

* Alabama
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Affiliated
groups|

| Congress|

* Senate Caucus
* Policy Committee
* Steering and Outreach Committee
* House Caucus
* Factions
* Blue Dog Coalition
* Congressional Progressive Caucus
* Squad
* Justice Democrats
* New Democrat Coalition
* Problem Solvers Caucus

|

Campaign
committees|

* Democratic Attorneys General Association
* Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
* Democratic Governors Association
* Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee
* Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
* National Conference of Democratic Mayors

Constituency
groups|

* College Democrats of America
* Democrats Abroad
* National Federation of Democratic Women
* Stonewall Democrats
* Stonewall Young Democrats
* Young Democrats of America
* High School Democrats of America

Strategic
groups|

* National Democratic Redistricting Committee
* National Democratic Training Committee

Related|

* Primaries
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* Debates
* Superdelegate
* Chairmanship elections
* 2005
* 2009
* 2013
* 2017
* 2021
* 2025
* House caucus leadership elections
* 2006
* 2018
* Weekly Democratic Address

* v
* t
* e

Alaska political parties

With ballot status|

* Alaskan Independence
* Democratic
* Libertarian
* Republican

Without ballot status|

* Green

Defunct|

* Republican Moderate

Political party strength in Alaska

Portal:

* Alaska

Authority control databases |

* SNAC

|

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