Two Assembly seats will be open this fall as Alicia Hughes-Skandijs says she isn’t running again

District 1 member who’s held the seat since 2019 calls it a ‘time-of-life’ decision, says upcoming election offers potential for significant change as city faces key future decisions

Assembly Member Alicia Hughes-Skandijs, right, discusses a proposed change in Juneau’s sales tax code with City Manager Katie Koester, left, and City Attorney Emily Wright during an Assembly meeting at City Hall on Monday, June 8, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Mark Sabbatini

Juneau Independent

Alicia Hughes-Skandijs said this week she won’t see a third full term on the Juneau Assembly, becoming the second of three incumbents up for reelection this year who will depart after the October municipal election.

Hughes-Skandijs, first appointed to the District 1 seat in January 2019 when Jesse Kiehl was elected to the state Senate, won an election that fall to fill the remaining year of his term and then was elected to two three-year terms in 2020 and 2023. She said she made her decision to step down during the budget process that played out during the past six months and wrapped up on Monday.

"By the time I get off in October it'll be the better part of eight years, which is nearly three terms, so you know you get to a point with just realizing, ‘Yes, I'm eligible to run for another term, but if I did that, it would be over a decade of my hand on the wheel,’ so just seemed like the right thing to do," she said in an interview Thursday.

Hughes-Skandijs, a New York native, moved to Juneau in 2004 to study at the University of Alaska Southeast. She spent eight years working for the state until beginning her current job as director of programs for the Alaska Municipal League in 2022.

When she was appointed among seven applicants for Kiehl’s seat in 2019, she told KTOO "affordable housing and child care are personally two things that I know that are city goals that I’m excited to work on.” She currently chairs the Assembly Lands, Housing and Economic Development Committee, and on Thursday said efforts to significantly boost the city’s Affordable Housing Fund by $2 million are among the actions she’s most proud of as an Assembly member.

"As buildings go up around town, and I know they got a grant from the Affordable Housing Fund, then I think, yeah, I've fought hard over the years to increase our usage of it and make it as easy as possible to use," she said.

Hughes-Skandijs’ decision not to run again comes after Christine Woll said Monday she isn’t seeking a third District 2 term. Woll cited work and family, along with the demands of serving as chair of the Assembly Finance Committee, as reasons she opted against running again.

Areawide Assembly Member Paul Kelly said Tuesday he has filed to run for a second term.

Both Hughes-Skandijs and Woll were among the most outspoken Assembly members in seeking spending cuts to sensitive programs during this year’s budget cycle, due to the city facing a sizable deficit resulting in part from voters passing two tax cut measures last year. Both were also part of the minority that in 2022 voted against buying a gondola for Eaglecrest Ski Area, which turned into a troubled and costly project the Assembly cancelled earlier this spring.

Hughes-Skandijs said the difficulty of this year’s budget process isn’t why she opted against seeking another term.

"It's a time-of-life thing because when you're getting to be that many years it's a substantial amount of time to dedicate to something," she said. "I feel very happy that I was able to dedicate that time to a community that I love, but I'm looking forward to having that time back."

Having two open seats on an Assembly that seemed to have more closely divided votes recently than in the past means the potential for change during the coming election is great, and comes at a time when city leaders are facing fundamental questions about its finances and other future issues, Hughes-Skandijs said.

"Because we have had so much more engagement, and you've seen the outpouring of public comments and things like that we have had has been higher, I really hope that it inspires people to run," she said, "because if you like the way things are going, and if you don't like the way things are going, like there's no better way to have impact on that than to get involved personally and put your money where your mouth is and get in there. And also it's an incredibly rewarding experience, so you won't regret it."

When asked about the possibility of running for public office again sometime in the future, Hughes-Skandijs said "I wouldn't rule it out, but I'm ready for a break."

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.