Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away! Senator Matt Claman (D – Anchorage) entered the crowded governor’s race, making him the fourteenth candidate and the second Democrat in the race. Shelley Hughes resigned her Senate seat to focus on her campaign for governor, creating a second Senate vacancy after the resignation of Mike Shower. Republicans from Mike Shower’s Senate district met on Friday (11/14/2025) and sent three names to Governor Mike Dunleavy (R – Alaska) to choose from to replace Shower. Representative David Nelson (R – Anchorage) announced he will not seek re-election. And the Resource Development Council held their annual conference in Anchorage. 

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Another Democrat in the race

Senator Matt Claman’s entrance into the governor’s race is noteworthy as it makes him the second Democrat after former Senator Tom Begich. Begich, who filed in August, has committed to getting out of the race if Democrat Mary Peltola decides to run. Claman has made no such commitment. In fact, when I asked him what he would do if she were to get in the race he said he’s running and that is what he is focused on. 

Many Democrats are getting frustrated with Peltola, who cannot seem to make up her mind if she will run for governor, challenge Senator Dan Sullivan (R – Alaska), or not run for anything and keep getting that big paycheck from Holland & Hart. 

And unlike Shelley Hughes and Mike Shower, Claman is not up for re-election until 2028, so he can run for governor and keep his Senate seat. Claman told me he is not going to resign his Senate seat, which will make it challenging to campaign during session.

Another Senate vacancy

As was expected, Shelley Hughes resigned her Senate seat this week to focus on her campaign for governor. This creates another vacancy in the Senate, and the second in the six-member Republican Senate minority.

Hughes held a press conference in Anchorage on Thursday (11/13/2025). It was kind of weird as after she spoke, her campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, and campaign chair all spoke too. It just kept dragging on. Her campaign manager is Gerad Godfrey. Talk about a blast from the past. You may recall he was close with Amanda Price, Dunleavy’s first Public Safety commissioner.

Her resignation before Mike Shower’s replacement is confirmed is peculiar. When a governor chooses a replacement for a vacancy, they must be confirmed by a majority of the members of the same party in the body with the vacancy. In the case of Shower and Hughes, that is a majority of Senate Republicans.

With Shower out, the Republican Senate minority had five members. With Hughes out as well, they now only have four. There are five Republicans in the bipartisan Senate majority. This means with nine Republicans in the Senate, Shower’s replacement will need five votes to be confirmed. So even if all four minority Republicans vote for the replacement, at least one majority Republican would need to vote for the person for them to be confirmed. If one minority Republican voted against the replacement, they would need at least two Republicans in the majority to be confirmed. There has been some chatter that at least one member of the Republican minority has reservations about Shower’s likely replacement. 

As I’ve been saying for months, the likeliest replacement for Shower is Representative George Rauscher (R – Sutton), who filed to run for the seat in September. Republicans in the district met on Friday and sent three names to Dunleavy: Rauscher, Representative Kevin McCabe (R – Big Lake), and Ryan Sheldon. Dunleavy is not required to choose from the list, but there is no reason he won’t.  

Senate President Gary Stevens (R – Kodiak) said he prefers the vote take place in-person. If Dunleavy chooses the replacement this week, it might be difficult to get all the Senate Republicans together before Thanksgiving. So we may not know if the replacement is confirmed until December. Dunleavy must appoint the replacement by December 3 (30 days after vacancy) but there is no time limit on when the confirmation vote must take place. So they could choose to drag it out.   

Note the low vote total for Doug Massie, who filed a letter of intent but has not said if he will run for the open Senate seat or challenge McCabe. 

The same process will need to take place to replace Hughes. Representative DeLena Johnson (R – Palmer) told me she will not apply for the vacant seat or run for it. She will run for re-election for her House seat. Representative Cathy Tilton (R – Wasilla) is running for the seat and will be the likely replacement. 

If Rauscher and Tilton are both chosen and confirmed, replacements will need to be chosen for their vacant House seats. That will be a loose process! 

Other Happenings 

Is former Governor Sarah Palin thinking about making a comeback? We all NEED her to get in the governor’s race. Imagine how wild that would be!

Representative David Nelson announced he will not seek re-election. It’s a smart move as it would be hard for him to beat former Representative Cliff Groh in a non-presidential election year. Groh would be a pickup for the Democrats. But with Representative Louise Stutes (R – Kodiak) running for the open Senate seat, her successor will likely be a pickup for Republicans. Stutes is a registered Republican but has been a member of bipartisan majorities for many years.  

This Donna Anthony is sure to provide ample entertainment. She filed to run for Cathy Tilton’s open House seat. Anthony is the “police chief” for the fake Chickaloon Tribal Police Department. Luckily, the state has refused to give them expanded police powers. 

This is wild. Turn out Crooked Adam Crum tried to commit $75 million to DigitalBridge. I submitted a detailed records request to the state regarding this story, that I broke in early October. I can’t wait to get those records. They should prove to be very telling. 

Senator Löki Tobin (D – Anchorage) and Representative Justin Ruffridge (R – Soldotna) received an award for their “joint effort to strengthen public education, including successfully overriding two gubernatorial vetoes in order to secure critical funding for Alaska’s schools.” Governor Dunleavy can’t be happy about that. 

It only took the League of NIMBY Voters 13 days to reverse themselves on the ridiculous letter they sent to Assembly members Chris Constant and Anna Brawley in October. 

This Week’s Loose Unit

This week’s designee was became obvious at the Resource Development Council’s annual conference. This week’s Loose Unit is Furie/HEX owner John Hendrix.

On Thursday, Hendrix spoke to the conference as part on an oil and gas panel. It did not take him long to get angry and start preaching to the crowd. It was very loose.

He went off on the utilities, saying they don’t have to take any risks. He talked about the big bonuses he’s been giving to his employees. He left out the 75% royalty reduction he received from the state for his Cook Inlet leases, totaling millions of dollars. 

Hendrix has tried to get his property taxed reduced by more than 90% and has benefitted from AIDEA loans. He’s tried several times to get bills passed that directly benefit himself. And he still continues to seek more handouts. Classic Loose Unit behavior. 

If you have a nomination for this week’s Loose Unit, or if you have any political news, stories or gossip (or any old pics of politicians or public officials) please email me at jeff@alaskalandmine.com.