There’s probably not going to be mass immigrant roundups and deportation camps in Juneau, so what is likely to be noticeable locally with Donald Trump instead of Kamala Harris as the next president?
The answer isn’t simply more conservative policymaking for everything from natural resource development to social issues, since at the state level there’s a strong chance the pendulum will swing the other way in the Alaska Legislature. Bipartisan coalitions in both the Senate and House that appear to have a majority of Democrats were announced Wednesday — a change from the Republican-led House last session — even though the outcomes of some races are still pending.
“We didn’t vote like the rest of the state as the whole, or it looks like the nation did, and so we’ve got our work cut out for us to get our needs met and we’ll collaborate anywhere we possibly can,” state Sen. Jesse Kiehl, a Juneau Democrat, said on Wednesday.
Among the new collaborative efforts may be with Alaska’s lone U.S. House member if Republican Nick Begich III maintains his lead over Democratic incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola when the final results are announced Nov. 20.
The two candidates expressed similar opinions on a number of issues relevant to Juneau including fisheries, flood protection from Suicide Basin and funding support for a U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker slated to be homeported here. But their differences could make a major difference if there’s a one- or two-vote margin in a narrowly divided House.
Kiehl said one of his concerns is Begich — a Trump supporter backed by the House’s conservative Freedom Caucus — will be part of a group that spurns efforts such as the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that infused billions of dollars into Southeast Alaska projects.
Among those more optimistic if Begich prevails is Paulette Simpson, a Douglas resident active in the Alaska Republican Party for more than three decades, who said Wednesday she’s known him for 20 years and he’s familiar with the issues Juneau faces.
“I think he’ll be good for Juneau, I think he’ll be good for Alaska because he represents a whole new generation and a whole new mindset,” she said. “He’s basically a tech entrepreneur and he is so conversant in new age issues, and he understands them well enough that he would understand that something like AI or crypto or stablecoin, he understands how those can be opportunities and not threats.”
No Roadless Rule, but maybe a new road from Juneau?
Some changes by the Trump administration are obvious — the Roadless Rule in the Tongass National Forest will almost certainly be repealed as he did during his first term, thus getting rid of road building and logging restrictions that have been a policy tug-of-war between presidential administrations for more than 20 years.
Trump backers in Juneau — some who acknowledge they’re outnumbered locally and say they risk being ostracized, or worse, by being open about their support — say among their hopes during his second term are better economic opportunities in industries such as mining and fewer government restrictions that impede much-needed development.
“The chances for reinvigorating the Juneau access road might be a thing that people could get interested in,” said Murray Walsh, co-chair of the Alaska Republican Party in the two legislative districts that span Juneau and other communities in northern Southeast Alaska, when asked what other specific policy proposals for the region might result due to the election.
A key action Walsh said he wants to see — especially if there are Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress — is ensuring actions such as repealing the Roadless Rule are permanently set in law so they’re not subject to the whim of future presidential administrations.
The three Democratic members of Juneau’s legislative delegation expressed a range of concerns about potential adverse impacts of a Trump administration such as spurning renewable energy projects in the region, and allowing environmentally harmful activities that degrade fisheries and ecosystems.
“Is the new administration at the federal level going to suspend the EPA and permitting process for mines to be executed?” said Rep. Sara Hannan in an interview Thursday. “I sure hope not because we certainly know in our region the mines are close to our waterways, which are close to our other economics.”
“I hope that we don’t reverse and change course on the idea of hydropower development and electrification of docks and ferries. I get concerned when I have heard national people talk about that all being bogus and we shouldn’t, because from our region those are things that are really good for our economic growth.”
A related concern is climate change — which Trump calls a “scam” and is pledging to halt federal efforts to limit pollution causing it — since it is having both tragic and immensely costly consequences in the region and elsewhere, Kiehl said.
“Southeast Alaska is seeing the effect of climate change in landslides,” he said. “We’re seeing it in floods. We’re seeing it in rotten fish runs. If we stop investing in the things that can calm that bad crisis we will pay bad.”
A more moderate Alaska Legislature and a new governor?
The delegation members were more optimistic about what bipartisan majorities in the Legislature will be able to achieve, even with a Republican governor with a line-item budget veto. Rep. Andi Story, who has made education a cornerstone issue of her tenure, said Wednesday she believes legislation for such goals as a funding increase can move quicker through both chambers if they are aligned hopefully such support will help when negotiating differences with the governor.
“Obviously the governor, he’s looking at the races too and what was important to people,” she said.
However, another open question following the election is who will be living in the governor’s mansion in Juneau — at least for a handful of days during the year — when the Legislature convenes in January. Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy is considered a contender for a post in the Trump administration, which means Republican Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom — a former state legislator from Eagle River who successfully ran for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat this year — would take over the state’s top spot.
“The Interior Department is the most obvious job,” Walsh said, referring to Dunleavy’s prospects in a Trump administration. “There’s a lot of Interior Department mishandling of Alaska issues that he would be, I am sure, empowered to deal with that would solve a lot of problems, at least in the short term. I think a lot of these things do need to be addressed in law, though, so that subsequent administrations can’t mess them up.”
Dunleavy, in the middle of a second four-year term with no eligibility to seek a third, has attended recent events and fundraisers featuring Trump. Grant Robinson, a spokesperson for Dunleavy, responded to an email Wednesday asking if the governor is interested in or considering a position in the Trump administration by stating “Governor Dunleavy will continue to be Governor of Alaska. If that changes, we will let you know.”
Dunleavy has had a contentious relationship at times with moderates in his own party as well as Democrats due to actions ranging from steep cuts to the state ferry system when he entered office to vetoing a bipartisan-supported education funding increase last session. Juneau’s delegation said they are at least hopeful of a productive working relationship with Dahlstrom if she becomes governor, based on her being willing to work across the aisle as a legislator.
“I think her time in the House was just a little more collaborative,” Kiehl said. “I would not expect the outreach hand to get slapped away quite as often.”
At the same time, optimism about a Dahlstrom administration was also expressed by Walsh, who said ”she was saying all the right things in her House campaign” when she got Trump’s endorsement in the primary instead of Begich.
What about clashes among cultures?
Much discussed by candidates and residents during the campaign — but with little certainty about actual outcomes — were national hot-topic issues such as abortion, immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, government funding for religious schools, national security and taxes. There wasn’t much more certainty after Tuesday’s election about what might happen that affects people in Juneau.
“I know many of you may be feeling anxious or uncertain about the future,” Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, wrote in a post on the council’s Facebook page Wednesday. “Times like these can bring real concerns for our tribal nations, communities, and families. But remember that we, as Indigenous people, have faced and overcome countless challenges throughout history. Our resilience is woven into who we are.”
While Trump had made numerous statements widely deemed racist such as undocumented immigrants “poisoning the blood” of the U.S., the words “Native,” “Indigenous” and “tribe” are not listed in a 16-page summary of the GOP platform at Trump’s campaign website. An analysis by ICT News of Trump’s first term notes he established a task force on missing and murdered Indigenous people, and was supportive of tribes seeking to do resource extraction on their land, but fought environmental protection and some other land rights efforts.
Tlingit and Haida is currently in the midst of a sovereignty dispute with large implications that involves both the state and federal governments. The federal government under President Joe Biden in 2022 agreed to take a parcel of Juneau land into trust — thus classifying it as “Indian Country,” and giving Tlingit and Haida the right to exercise sovereign government powers there — but the Dunleavy administration has halted that action as part of a wider court challenge.
The tribe is also part of an Indigenous coalition that has pushed the Biden administration for stronger actions toward getting Canada to limit pollution from its mining activities that pollute Southeast Alaska waters, and to clean up the Tulsequah Chief mine about 20 miles from the border near Juneau which has been a pollution issue for nearly 70 years.
Peterson didn’t address specific issues in his message on the tribe’s Facebook page.
“Know that your tribal government will tirelessly advocate for our interests and we are not alone,” he wrote. “Tribes across the country share our concerns, and together, we are stronger. We will continue to work with all levels of government, regardless of who is in power, to ensure our voices are heard and needs are met. This includes our commitment to working with both the outgoing and incoming administrations to achieve our goals.”
As for the broader social and cultural issues, local officials are offering opinions quite similar to the divided conversations occurring nationally.
“We still have a Constitution that governs even a president who campaigned on things that seemed to be unconstitutional, in my opinion,” Hannan said about some of Trump’s more controversial vows such as deploying troops in U.S. cities.
Walsh, on the other hand, said he’s relieved the end of the Biden administration is in sight because “his administration was fundamentally opposed to almost everything that America stands for.”
“Somebody who upholds traditional values is going to be taking over so that’s all good,” Walsh said.
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.
