I’m running for Senate because I’ve seen firsthand how government is failing Alaskans.
I grew up on the Kuskokwim, fishing salmon with my father. Buzzy and I raised our seven kids here and spent long summer days at fish camp. Fishing with family is where Alaskans learn life’s lessons.
Life is difficult here. Alaskans know that, and we know that we have to take care of each other. We know no one from the Lower 48 is coming to save us. In Alaska, we pitch in to bail out a stranger’s swamping boat. We know that the next swamped boat could be ours.
Growing up, Alaska was a place of abundance. Now, we have scarcity. Many of our fish stocks and fish returns have been decimated. The salmon, large game, and migratory birds that used to fill our freezers are harder to find. So people are forced to buy more groceries, and are met with crushing prices.
And I’ve got to tell you, it’s not just that politicians in DC don’t care that we’re paying 17 bucks for a gallon of milk in rural Alaska, they don’t believe us. They’re more focused on their stock portfolios than our wallets.
When they actually work together on something, it’s usually to help themselves.
Our delegation used to stand up to their party to put Alaska first. Ted Stevens and Don Young ignored Lower 48 partisanship to fight for things like public media and disaster relief because rural Alaska depends on them. Our delegation used to be strong and tough – as Don would say, “small but mighty” – now it’s weak, partisan, and beholden to Lower 48 donors.
This is the fight for our future. My agenda for Alaska will always be fish, family, and freedom. But our future also depends on fixing the rigged system in DC that’s shutting down Alaska while politicians feather their own nest.
DC people will be pissed that I’m focusing on their self-dealing, sharing what I’ve seen firsthand. They’re going to complain that I’m proposing term limits. But it’s time – politicians and their millionaire and billionaire donors are the only ones this broken system works for.
It’s time for a new approach. Systemic change is the only way to bring down grocery costs, ban factory trawling, lower energy & healthcare costs, and build new housing Alaskans can afford. Systemic change is the only way to fill our homes with abundance again.
I need you all to see what I’ve seen and to join me in fixing this broken system. No one from the Lower 48 is coming to save us, but I know this in my bones: there is no group of people more ready to save ourselves than Alaskans.
Ted Stevens often said, “To hell with politics, put Alaska first.” It’s about time Alaskans teach the rest of the country what Alaska first and, really, America first looks like.
