Scott Kendall’s Unfiltered Take on Alaska Politics

The Northern Ledger

In this episode of The Northern Ledger, host John Quick sits down with Alaska attorney and political strategist Scott Kendall to discuss the

Key takeaways

• Alaska's unique political structure—lacking many statewide offices—draws top talent into high-stakes races like the governorship.
• The combination of open primaries, ranked-choice voting, and unlimited campaign donations has created a highly competitive and diverse field of candidates.

Main topics

• Alaska gubernatorial race dynamics
• Open primaries and ranked-choice voting impact

Notable quotes

"We don't elect our secretary of state. We don't have one. We don't elect our AG. So this is really, this is the show."

Conclusion

Scott Kendall presents a hopeful and insightful view of Alaska's evolv

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) Well, Scott, welcome back to the show. I was joking earlier. I think we were texting or something. You probably have been one of the guests that has come back on the most. So thank you so much for doing that. It's maybe a world record coming back on. So thanks a lot. I'm waiting for my Speaker 1 (0:15) free T-shirt or hat or something. Yeah, yeah. It's in the mail. Yeah. Speaker 2 (0:21) So we have a lot of interesting things happening in Alaska. I'd love to get your take on a lot of it. We were kind of chatting beforehand about the governor's race. Tell me what your thoughts are on this race. It is, I think I've heard. different things from different folks of like, it's really cool. There's a lot of folks in the race and from other folks, there's way too many, you know, I hear there's way too many people in the race. What are your thoughts on this? I know that this is kind of the first round of having a governor seat where the governor can't run and we have open primaries and we're going to get to see what that's like. So what do you, how do you think it's playing out? Speaker 1 (0:59) Yeah, it's really interesting. As I've been telling a lot of people, I don't think we've ever seen a race where we have, you know, whatever you think of their viewpoints in terms of funding and in terms of background, I think we've got, you know, 10 or more legitimate candidates who have, you know, six figure levels of funding, also have resumes, whether state senators, former attorney generals, former mayors, former governors, for that matter. It's just a fascinating, perfect storm because in Alaska, of course. We don't tend to reelect our governors. It's very, very rare that we have a lamed up governor as we have right now. It hasn't been since 2002, I believe. So you have that. And on top of that, you have unlimited campaign donations, at least for now. I think we're likely to get campaign limits back with this ballot measure that's on the primary ballot. And then, you know, on top of that, we have a top four primary. So the field is open to. different kinds of Democrats, different kinds of Republicans and nonpartisans as well. I think this would be a real boring race if we had the old system, because what we'd have is, quite honestly, we'd have Bernadette versus Tom Begich, probably the furthest left and the furthest right candidate in some respects. And that would be our choice. And we'd know that choice basically right now. And instead, we've got this very fluid and most of all competitive environment where. There, you know, all these different interest groups really have their ability to build a winning coalition. I think it's it's going to be great. It's going to be fascinating. And the quality of the candidates is honestly pretty high. I've told a few people like, look, there's there's out of this field, there's three, four or five people that I could absolutely live with as governor that I think would do a good job for the state and would do kind of 90 percent. You know, I always grade on a curve like you're never going to get a candidate that's 100 percent. Right. But. Give me 75, for goodness sake. Give me 60 Speaker 2 (2:50) and I'll still be happy. Speaker 1 (2:52) Yeah, yeah, exactly. So it's a fascinating, deep field and a talented field. It's really, and it really shows you in Alaska, unlike many other states, you know, we have so few statewide offices that really all the talent rushes onto the field. We don't elect our secretary of state. We don't have one. We don't elect our AG. So this is really, this is the show. We Speaker 2 (3:14) don't Speaker 1 (3:14) have Speaker 2 (3:14) sheriff's elections. Speaker 1 (3:15) We don't have those. kinds Speaker 2 (3:17) of things that other Speaker 1 (3:17) people in the lower 48 have. Yeah. Speaker 2 (3:21) So seeing this play out, is there any particular candidates that you're excited about? I know that, you know, for folks that follow you on Facebook or whatnot, they may know, you know, some of the folks you're excited about. But tell us about maybe a couple candidates that stick out to you that you think are doing a good job at this race. Speaker 1 (3:40) Yeah, I mean, I really, you know, my personal bias, clearly very excited about Click Bishop. And I think it's a little bit of. kind of common background. Like he's a gold miner who accidentally ended up in state government. I grew up in a farm. I accidentally ended up as an attorney and serving as chief of staff. But bringing that sort of like meat and potatoes, hey, bring your hard hat, let's get to work kind of stuff to work every day. We're not here to make headlines. We're here to get things done. And then boy, his running mate, Greta Shirk, don't sleep on her as being the next generation of leadership in Alaska. I've known Greta for over 10 years. Phenomenal human being, phenomenal leader. Boy, we should be so lucky as to elect someone like Greta. So that's my, you know, that's my heart's pick for sure. But, you know, I look at some of these other tickets and, you know, JKT is doing interesting things. Not only a prolific fundraiser, just the hardest worker you'll ever meet. And then he flipped the script, I think, from what a lot of people thought of him as a partisan Democrat. And then he picks a nonpartisan who represents a Republican part of Anchorage, former Marine, former trooper Zach Johnson. And he's really he's already kind of creating. I don't know if I'd call it a team of rivals, but he's creating a team that has a broader perspective than I think people expected. And honestly, that's exciting. So I think those are the two that are a bit mold breaking for me. But I've heard phenomenal things. about Shelly Hughes's running mate as well, Blake Geddes. I don't know him personally, but I mean, I will tell you, I know another veteran who served with him who is beyond progressive. This guy's politics are a mile to the left of me. And he told me, like, I might vote for them in the primary because Blake is such a stellar human being that, you know, Shelly has showed me something by picking him. So it's... It's really kind of exciting to see. And that's one of my favorite things about the current election system. The one we put in place in 2002 is this idea that the governor and lieutenant governor build a team rather than this sort of, you know, the prior system was sort of an arranged marriage. And I think we're Speaker 2 (5:52) all Speaker 1 (5:52) aware there's a little bit of a history of, you know, some governors and LGs who didn't love each other. And I think the idea of like, you know, true love, so to speak, they pick each other and run together. You really you really get to see some special things. Speaker 2 (6:07) So what do you what are your thoughts on who do you think are going to make the top four? Because for folks that are listening in that maybe, you know, don't pay as much into politics as you or I do, people are going to vote in the, you know, this coming primary in the top four are going to advance. So who do you think those top four could be? Speaker 1 (6:26) Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, my level of certainty fluctuates, of course, over time because. You know, really quite at the start of the race, it really appeared as though Bernadette and Tom Begich were just running away with this thing. But I think Bernadette's come to earth a little bit. I think her fundraising's plateaued, but she's still in the driver's seat, so to speak, as the leading Republican. So I would say I