(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Solid wins for Dems in Alaska elections [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-10 Imagine Alaska is blue, it isn't hard to do Here’s some belated news from last week: Dems in Alaska had an excellent election, retaining a supermajority on the Anchorage city council. Six out of seven open positions were won by Democratic candidates, with only an outlying suburb voting Republican. Nice work Anchorage! The end result is a 9-3 Democratic lock on the council. Since Anchorage is over 40% of the state population, that’s a great core to build on to pull another state into the blue column. Here’s a recap, that has some interesting tidbits that can apply nationally. https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2023/04/10/anchorage-election-results-leave-conservatives-discouraged/ First, there is an excellent local political consulting group (Ship Creek Group) that gives Democratic candidates access to professional campaign services that are tailored to the local conditions and issues. Check out this quote from the Anchorage Daily News article: “We don’t have a Ship Creek Group for conservatives. It is a hard thing to acknowledge,” Demboski said in an interview. “We’re getting outworked, outspent and frankly outplayed when it comes to these local elections.” Instead, conservative candidates this cycle and last have spent heavily on management and messaging services from Axiom Strategies, a national firm headquartered in Missouri that handles Republican campaigns across the country. “There were some issues with using Axiom,” Campbell said. “I think that was actually not the best choice that the candidates could have done.” Exactly! Quit sending piles of money to consultants in DC, and instead work with local talent who cares and who knows your voters. Second, the demographics of the city (and by extension the state) are slowing shifting into closer alignment to the rest of the west coast. She attributed some of the leftward political shift to the city’s demographic and economic changes in the last decade, as oil industry jobs declined amid the yearslong oil slump. To the extent those blue-collar workers have been replaced, it’s by more white-collar and health care workers who tend not to vote as reliably Republican and conservative. “It’s a different town than you grew up in,” Downing told Minnery. “We have a less extractive economy here now.” Many older residents, who tend to vote more conservatively, are retiring out of state, she added. And union members, from public school teachers to tradesmen, tend to vote in line with their leadership’s endorsements of more liberal candidates. This is the best news in the article, to me. Not only did Republicans lose, but they lost due to structural changes that will only continue to pile up against them. Alaska is a jewel just waiting to be picked up by our side, with such a small population and their willingness to elect moderate Democrats as shown by the statewide election of Mary Peltola to the House. Just project this drift out a few more years, and we could solidify the whole west coast. Alaska is the last state still leaning red out here, and it is socially and economically connected to Hawaii and Washington more than any other states. Economically, the extractive industries will continue to decline. The crab fishery is in tough shape, hunting will decline as game is less available, and sport fishing is now taking a hit as the might Kenai river struggles with salmon returns. Basically, as tourism grows and extraction recedes, the population mix is going to keep shifting. One place Alaska could really use help is in the higher education system. It’s a small population to maintain far flung colleges. Undergraduate enrollment at UAA (University of Alaska Anchorage) has dropped from 16,000 to 10,000 over the last decade or so. If Alaska has a progressive future, I think that requires a college system that is on solid ground. Is there a way to coordinate Alaska schools with Pacific NW schools? Promote a way for PNW students to choose a junior year in Alaska? Even just a semester at a time would show off this state to many young progressive students. I’d say elections like this show that Alaska has the potential to be a key part of a future progressive coalition. If nothing else, I’d love if that giant blob of red on election night maps was blue just for the visual impact! I’d like to see Alaska included as much as possible in any coalitions of west coast states, to reinforce social and economic ties and to solidify our regional strength. I can only imagine how much a couple more blue Senators would help WA/OR/CA/HI with their own priorities. If those states could see a way to include the tiny population of their neighbor Alaska in any way as they build toward climate resiliency maybe it would help? Not that Alaskans want to be told how to live by Californians, don’t get me wrong. But there’s a spaceport up here in Kodiak now, and a whole lot of clean water and fresh air. Strategically, this is a state worth keeping an eye on. For now, congratulations Democrats! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/10/2163250/-Solid-wins-for-Dems-in-Alaska-elections Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/