JUNEAU — Alaska Gov. Bill Walker plans to attend Friday’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Walker is a Republican-turned-independent who did not publicly endorse a candidate for president. Walker spokeswoman Katie Marquette said it is customary for governors to be invited to presidential inaugurations.
Walker told The Associated Press last month he was hopeful about having a good relationship with the Trump administration. He said he was pleased with things he was hearing, for example, on resource development issues, which are important to Alaska.
Walker sought to build a relationship with Democratic President Barack Obama, even accompanying Obama on the long flight from Washington, D.C. to Alaska to raise issues of concern to the state when Obama visited in 2015.
But they were on opposite sides of numerous energy issues, including an Obama administration designation of the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing.
