At oil conference, Dunleavy declines to endorse his lieutenant governor as his replacement
- Alaska Beacon
- Aug 29
- 3 min read
Dodging a moderator’s question, he also declines to name any of his former cabinet officials as his preferred choice in the 2026 election
A year before Alaska’s 2026 primary election, 10 candidates have already announced their intent to run for governor, and more are expected to announce campaigns in the coming months.
Incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and unable to run himself, and with so many people in the race, there is no clear front-runner.
During a question-and-answer session at this week’s Alaska Oil and Gas Association conference in Anchorage, Dunleavy was asked who he supports.
Among the confirmed candidates are Dunleavy’s lieutenant governor, Republican Nancy Dahlstrom, and his former revenue commissioner, Adam Crum. His former attorney general, Treg Taylor, is also expected to enter the race.
But given the opportunity to endorse any or all of them, Dunleavy didn’t name any specific candidate as his preference and spoke only in generalities.
“Who do you want to replace you as governor?” asked the event moderator.
“Somebody taller than me,” Dunleavy said to laughter. “No, I’m kidding. … Somebody that believes in Alaska like you do and like I do. You’ve got to be on a mission, right?”
Dunleavy said he believes any governor faces distractions and nay-sayers, people who will oppose projects and a governor’s efforts.
“I would hope that whoever is the next governor has a mission to continue the good things that are happening for the state, continue to work with the Trump administration, because I’ll be gone,” Dunleavy said, alluding to President Donald Trump’s efforts to increase mining, logging and oil and gas drilling in Alaska.
“There’ll be two more years, at least, of President Trump, and hopefully someone after him in a similar vein, who wants to keep this going for the country. So whoever you talk to that’s running for governor, ask them what their mission is. If they balk, or they look up at the sky or they think about it, that’s a concern,” the governor said. “Getting things across the finish line, getting things across the finish line, is the most important thing.”
After the governor’s remarks, deputy press secretary Grant Robinson said by email that the governor’s statement about “at least” two more years was “nothing more than an approximation of the time remaining in the President’s term.”
The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits someone from being elected President more than twice.
Dunleavy’s own political future is also in question. On Thursday, Fox News, citing unnamed sources, said the governor is considering whether to run against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, when her current term expires in 2028.
The Fox News report could not be immediately corroborated, but Murkowski herself has said she may leave the Senate. In interviews earlier this month, she declined to rule out a run for governor in 2026.
In addition to Crum and Dahlstrom, seven other Republicans have filed documents for a campaign: former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer; 2022 write-in governor candidate Bruce Walden of Palmer; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; and business owner Bernadette Wilson of Anchorage.
Former state Sen. Tom Begich of Anchorage is the only Democratic candidate to have filed paperwork for a candidacy, and no independents have entered the race so far.
• James Brooks is a longtime Alaska reporter, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
