Election 2026: Shelley Hughes hoping legislative achievements elevate her among a dozen Republicans seeking to be governor
- Mark Sabbatini
- 4 hours ago
- 9 min read
Former state Senate majority leader says candidates promising ‘statutory’ PFDs are ‘in la-la land,’ better engagement needed between executive and legislative branches at the Capitol
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Shelley Hughes’ biggest applause line at a Juneau campaign event wasn’t declaring she has roots in Southeast Alaska, a policy proposal such as a new homestead act, or vowing that as governor she’d be the one to make a serious effort at getting the federal government to turn a bunch of its land over to the state.
Instead, it was something of a rebuke to the incumbent — a fellow Republican — she’s hoping to replace.
“I plan to live here in the mansion,” she told dozens of people at an art gallery meet-and-greet in December, getting an appreciative response from locals who’ve seen the Governor’s House mostly unoccupied by Gov. Mike Dunleavy. His absence from the Capitol has been a frequent topic of discontent by legislators in both parties and a bill introduced by a Republican House member last year proposed turning the mansion into a short-term rental.
Hughes, in an interview the day after her campaign event, said she interprets the reaction as residents in the state capital not wanting to be forgotten when a new governor takes office.
“t think Juneau really wants a governor who has a focus on Southeast and doesn't neglect it,” she said. “And that's the feedback I've been getting — they elect a governor and then they're just forgotten.”
Hughes, a Palmer resident, is a former state Senate majority leader who served in the Legislature from 2013 until departing in 2025 to run for higher office. She was born in Ohio and moved to Alaska in 1976, working as a teacher in Hoonah for five years before eventually moving to communities elsewhere in the state and ultimately settling down in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in 1990.
She is among 16 candidates so far — including 12 Republicans — seeking to replace Dunleavy, who cannot run again after serving two consecutive terms.
Among the Republicans competing with her are Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, former Attorney General Treg Taylor, former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and business leader Bernadette Wilson who is running a high-profile “outsider” campaign. Hughes is also associated with the conservative wing of her party — recently aligning with a small minority caucus in the Senate rather than joining a bipartisan majority — and another of the competing candidates is former state Sen. Click Bishop who was part of that majority.
So what makes Hughes think she can rise above the other conservative candidates — let alone the entire field — and be elected Alaska’s next governor?
“First of all, I'm not going to bash my opponents, but I think I'm differentiated because I have a deeper and better understanding of the issues,” she said. “And I'm talking pragmatic solutions — not one-liners, rhetoric that tickles someone's ear — but ’these are the steps you need to take.’”
Among the bipartisan policy achievements she cites as a legislator is chairing an Alaska Food Security and Independence Task Force, whose main recommendation was establishing a state Department of Agriculture. The Legislature rejected an executive order by Dunleavy establishing the department last year — with a lawsuit over the matter now in the appeal stage — but House and Senate leaders have said they are willing to consider supporting such a department through the normal legislative process.
Hughes also cites being one of the key members involved in the bipartisan passage of the Alaska Reads Act in 2022, which she called the most notable education policy achievement during Dunleavy’s tenure.
An indicator of her conservative leanings is evident in a Feb. 6 column she wrote for Must Read Alaska about the dissolution of the Alaskan Independent Party, whose platform included secession from the United States. While not addressing that provision, she stated she “agreed with the AIP for years in resisting federal overreach and have always firmly supported states’ rights and access to our promised lands, resources, industry, management rights, and mineral rights.”
At the same time, one of the lines from her December campaign event that definitely won’t get applause from many conservatives in particular was “I'm not going to go out like some of the candidates and promise full statutory PFDs.”
“They’re in la-la land when they’re saying that,” she told those in the room. “We’ve got some real hard work to get our fiscal house in order.”
Also, while Hughes isn’t the most pessimistic Republican in the field about a long-discussed natural gas pipeline — fellow Mat-Su candidate Bruce Walden proclaimed “it's not going to be built” because it’s economically impractical at a January GOP forum — she doesn’t see it as a miracle solution to the extent some advocates do.
“I want to tell you that'll be great, but it's not going to give us cheap energy,” she said. “It's going to prevent us from having economically expensive imported energy costs. And I know you have hydro here, so it doesn't impact you, but it does the rest of the state. So if we want cheap energy we cannot simply rely on the gas line. We have to pair it with hydro.”
Much of Hughes’ platform is common among the Republican field: more vocational training to help counter Alaska's outmigration and workforce shortages, further support for resource industries beyond oil such as mining and timber, and getting state control of federal land. Like most candidates, she has some specific ideas for such issues, such as the potential of hemp as a natural resource industry in Alaska along with reviving timber’s prospects.
"Another thing I would like to do is revisit and have some sort of Homestead Act," she said. "Back in the early days it was for large parcels, a hundred acres or so. I'm talking something that would be small enough for a house — an acre, a half acre — because the cost of a home, about a third of it is the cost of the land."
She’s also continuing to highlight issues she focused on as a legislator, such as a sunset commission that automatically abolishes state agencies unless lawmakers decide to support them after undergoing review. Numerous other states have enacted such policies, and Hughes and other Alaska legislators for years have advocated a model based on a 50-year-old commission in Texas, which thus far has failed to get significant traction.
“Many good things take 10 years to get off the ground,” Hughes said about the lack of action so far by the Legislature. “So when you have those initial hearings it's just planting the seed, getting the idea out there.”
She suggested now may be a particularly appropriate time to consider such a commission since another long-discussed proposal — a state income tax — is now among the top discussion items at the Capitol since it is a revenue cornerstone of a six-year fiscal plan unveiled by Dunleavy last month.
“If you are going to go, for instance, for a state sales tax the public is going to need to have confidence that you're doing the best you can with the dollars you have for state government,” she said. “So something like a sunset commission gives them the confidence that you're doing what you need to be doing.”
Hughes said she is willing to support a sales tax in the context of a broader fiscal plan — but it should be temporary like Dunleavy’s, which would end in 2032 when he’s projecting revenue from new oil and other projects will provide the state with sufficient revenue.
“I don't support an income tax,” she said. “I don't because you can look at the data in other states when they impose income taxes they’ve had a mass exodus. We already have a problem with a brawn and brain drain of our young people. We can't afford to have a mass exodus. Sales taxes, historically, don't cause a mass exodus, and the advantage of a sales tax is that it is less out of Alaskan pockets because of the couple million tourists that we have to the state each year.”
Education was dropped as a top-tier issue by Dunleavy during his final year in office, as he stated in December it appears the Legislature had little interest in advancing his policy goals after lawmakers managed to enact a funding increase by twice overriding vetoes by him last year. But Hughes said she supports many of the measures he did — such as expanding school choice, in part by boosting support for charter and correspondence schools — and believes she can make progress that he hasn’t.
“I would be here in Juneau and I have good relationships with legislators, and there's data coming out now that shows that these reforms lift all boats, they help the neighborhood schools,” she said.
Hughes and some other Republicans have talked about such changes for many years. When asked what new data she’s referring to, she said research she’s seen rebuts the fear the changes she favors will “decimate the neighborhood schools.”
“That data shows it doesn't — it's only like more 5% of the families choose to do it,” she said. “So your neighborhood schools are still going to be in great demand, but they're going to be in better shape, and the children that are difficult are likely going to be in other alternative education arrangements.”
Hughes, as a legislator, also introduced some education-related bills that attracted controversy such as a transgender sports ban and requiring school districts to train a volunteer able to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds if an employee wasn’t available to do so.
A proposal likely to attract scrutiny if introduced by her as governor is expanding the role of the private sector in the Alaska Marine Highway System. But unlike some policymakers who have suggested privatizing the state ferry system, Hughes said she is seeking more of a private presence for amenities such as restaurants and entertainment on the ships.
“So there’s still state funds supporting it, but there's also something in it for the private partner,” she said. “And the reason why I think it would work better is because right now you have the red tape of a state agency — people who maybe don't have that mindset of catering to the passengers and making a pleasant experience through dinner and a band or whatever — where a private sector would have that and be much more nimble to make those decisions.”
A particularly controversial ferry project for Alaska’s next governor will be the Cascade Point Ferry Terminal, which the Dunleavy administration is aggressively pushing despite pushback from the ferry system’s operations board and many regional officials. More than 90% of public comments submitted to the state during a three-month period ending in January oppose the project, with many opponents saying it appears to be a state-funded boondoggle to provide a shipment point for a new gold mine that will inconvenience travelers by forcing them to board ferries 35 miles north of Juneau.
Hughes, while stating the fate of the Cascade Point terminal “is an important decision for local people, because it's going to impact them,” also said “extending the road further would make more sense.” She also talked about a scenario using both the Auke Bay terminal and Cascade Point, with large ships able to accommodate vehicles at one and smaller ferries for passengers at the other.
Alaska’s open primary means Hughes doesn’t have to top all of her Republican competitors in the Aug 18 primary — she just needs to be in the top four among all candidates regardess of party to advance to the November election. However, like many Republicans she opposes both the open primary and state’s ranked choice voting, even if it improves her odds of making it to the finals.
"I think, for the people's sake, something simplified is better," she said, noting voters will be asked to select up to four candidates instead of one during the primary, and then have to evaluate four instead of two in the general election.
Hughes said that, while she opted to be part of an all-Republican minority rather than a bipartisan majority the past few years, she believes her overall record reflects a degree of practicality she believes is necessary to lead in the legislative environment in the years ahead.
"I'm smart and I'm reasonable, and I'm good with people," she said. "When I'm governor I won't be able to get everything. I'm realistic. I won't be able to get everything, but I will be able to move the ball down the field. And one of the things has to do with relationships and the other thing has to do with being a good communicator."
"I think using the bully pulpit as governor is important," Hughes added. "So, for instance, for the education thing, (the National Education Association) controlled the narrative on that. And I think Alaskans deserve to have a full spectrum of what's going on, and having options, and let parents and families and grandparents listen to both sides and make their decision. So I'm not going to be afraid to use the bully pulpit. I'll use it more than any other governor has ever used it."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
