At the Alaska Democratic Party’s recent convention in Cordova, Suzanne Downing was unanimously selected as Citizen of the Year due to her tireless work on behalf of Democrats statewide.

“Suzanne has single-handedly attacked more sitting Republican legislators in the last three months than the Alaska Democratic Party has been able to do in the last five years,” said party chairman Eric Croft.

“Whether it’s Senator Lisa Murkowski, Senators Mike Cronk, Rob Yundt, Kelly Merrick, Cathy Giessel, Jesse Bjorkman, or Representatives Sarah Vance, Kevin McCabe, Jeremy Bynum, Justin Ruffridge or any other Republican who dares to actually represent their constituents, Suzanne is right there with a hit piece before we even have to lift a finger,” Croft said. “We were going to hire a communications director this year. Thanks to Suzanne, we don’t need one.”

“She has done more to create division, chaos and dysfunction within the Alaska Republican Party than any other organized effort in recent history,” Croft continued.

Croft pointed to Downing’s recent column on Senate Bill 64 as a standout example. In that piece, Downing claimed the bipartisan election reform bill was the “legislative demon child” of Senator Bill Wielechowski and Representative Sarah Vance, and suggested Wielechowski had a knack for knowing “how to make the women feel pretty and men feel smart.”

“You can’t script that kind of help,” Croft said. “A conservative woman writing that a sitting female Republican legislator was essentially charmed into her vote because she was made to feel pretty. That’s not political commentary; that’s a gift basket to every woman voter in Alaska who is tired of being talked down to. And she handed it to us for free.”

“Since Suzanne Downing started her online business advocating for conservative causes, the Republicans have lost the Alaska House, Alaska Senate, Anchorage mayor, Anchorage Assembly, Anchorage School Board, Fairbanks mayor, Fairbanks City Council, Fairbanks borough mayor, and more. For this we want to kindly thank Suzanne for all of her hard work and dedication to our team, we really couldn’t do it without her.”

Croft concluded, “We are very grateful to her for helping us set the stage for the upcoming elections and we hope to capitalize on this unplanned momentum.”