"I voted" stickers are seen on display in the headquarters offices of the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
“I voted” stickers are seen on display in the headquarters offices of the Alaska Division of Elections in Juneau on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Seventeen people have registered as candidates for Alaska governor in this fall’s election, though the final slate won’t be set until June 27, the withdrawal deadline. Only four will advance in the Aug. 18 primary.
The deadline to register as a candidate was 5 p.m. Monday. Former state Sen. Lesil McGuire and former Gov. Bill Walker, both running as independents, were among those who registered on the last day.
The field of candidates, which includes 11 Republicans, three Democrats and three independents, is especially large this year. Incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and unable to run for another term.
Unless they withdraw, all of the 17 candidates will compete in the Aug. 18 statewide open primary election. Voters will each pick one candidate, and the top four vote-getters, regardless of party, will advance to the November 3 general election.
In November, voters will rank those final four candidates in order of preference using ranked-choice voting. The winner will take office at noon Dec. 7 for a four-year term.
Dahlstrom had raised a relatively small amount of money since her announcement, according to preliminary campaign finance disclosures.
Two other independents, Jessica Faircloth and Gregg Brelsford, and one Republican, Bruce Walden, also declined to register as candidates despite filing preliminary paperwork.
Because a gubernatorial candidate must have a lieutenant governor candidate as a running mate, the days before the filing deadline brought a flurry of announcements.
Former Alaska attorney general Treg Taylor, running as a Republican, announced businesswoman Candice English as his lieutenant governor choice. Self-funded Republican candidate Matt Heilala picked former Wasilla Rep. Jesse Sumner, a fellow Republican.
On the Democratic side, Sen. Matt Claman of Anchorage picked healthcare executive Sarah Skeel, and former state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins chose current Anchorage Assembly member Zac Johnson.
If a lieutenant governor candidate drops out before June 27, the candidate for governor can pick someone new to replace them. If a candidate for governor drops out, the lieutenant governor candidate may replace them and pick a new lieutenant governor.
Candidates for Governor
Former state Sen. Tom Begich (Democratic) with Lt. Gov. candidate Julia Hnilicka (Democratic)
Volunteers and supporters celebrate the public opening of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse in Lynn Canal on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The telltale sight of the white octagonal structure and red roof of Eldred Rock Lighthouse is a marker for mariners and many upper Lynn Canal residents sailing north, signaling they are close to home.
Alaska’s oldest original lighthouse is located 55 miles north of Juneau and 17 miles south of Haines, and will be open to members of the public for the first time. Visitors can learn about its storied history and service to Southeast Alaska.
Boats of supporters from Haines and Juneau joined a grand opening event on the island May 30 to celebrate a roughly six year volunteer-run effort to preserve and restore the now 120-year-old lighthouse.
A young passenger on the M/V Seawolf views the Eldred Rock Lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Sue York is executive director of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association, a Haines-based non-profit organization that took over the lighthouse from the U.S Coast Guard in 2020 and spearheaded the restoration effort. She said it was easy to recruit support for the project because of the lighthouse’s regional significance.
“This building to us is our heritage, Coast Guard heritage, maritime heritage. It’s Southeast Alaska special,” York said. “(On) the ferry, everyone that lives in Haines, Skagway and Juneau has a feeling about the lighthouse as they go by, right? It’s home, it’s ‘Oh, we’re almost home.’”
Eldred Rock Lighthouse was constructed after a shipwreck tragedy during the Klondike Gold Rush and completed in 1906. It has served as a beacon and navigation aid for mariners ever since. Several generations of lighthouse keepers kept the kerosene light alive year-round. Technology improvements replaced lighthouse keepers and Eldred Rock was automated and left empty in 1973. It was listed under the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
After storm damage in 2016, the preservation effort drew volunteers from around Haines, Skagway, Gustavus, Juneau and beyond to restore the iconic lighthouse. It took extensive repairs, repainting and abatement work to remove hazardous building materials and renovate the lighthouse, living quarters and out buildings and dock. Charter tours will be available for groups of 25 from Haines beginning this summer, and visitors can rent one of five bedrooms or volunteer as a lighthouse keeper, according to the group’s website.
The mission of the group is to restore, preserve and share, said John Woods, a board member with the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association.
“It’s kind of this quintessential Alaskan thing, where you’re like, ‘I’m in this lighthouse on this tiny little island in the middle of Lynn Canal, with these huge mountains and glaciers around, there’s whales, eagles, puffins,’ you know,” he said. “So we’re excited that… we’re going to be able to fulfill that part of our mission, the ‘share’ part.”
“People will get to have that experience and get to go out there and be like, this is a special place,” he added.
The public opening celebration on May 30 represented a particularly special day for siblings Tainya and Doug Adamson, who traveled from Washington state to Southeast Alaska for the occasion. They are the great-grandchildren of the first lighthouse keeper on Eldred Rock, Nils P. Adamson, who manned the lighthouse from 1906 to 1911.
“I’m just grateful,” said Tainya Adamson, growing emotional as she first spotted the lighthouse from the boat. “To be here is incredibly overwhelming, but incredible. We’re very honored to be able to pay respect to our great-grandfather, as well as everyone else who was here.”
Siblings Doug and Tainya Adamson are the great-grandchildren of the first lighthouse keeper of Eldred Rock, Nils P. Adamson. They traveled from Washington state to be a part of the opening ceremony of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse on May 30, 2026, also the first time any member of the family had visited since Adamson was stationed there. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
“This is incredibly important for our family, something that’s been part of our family story for a very long time,” said Doug Adamson, “And something we’ve heard about our whole family as a history of mariners — my great-grandfather is a light keeper, my grandfather was in the lighthouse service, and my father was in the Coast Guard, worked at a lighthouse, so for our family personally, this is very important.”
The preservation group is continuing repairs and renovations into the summer, as they begin welcoming tour groups and visitors, and working to set up a maritime museum onsite.
The captain of the M/V Seawolf spots the Eldred Rock Lighthouse from the south on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Passengers on the M/V Seawolf look out at the Eldred Rock Lighthouse on the day of the public opening on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Eldred Rock Lighthouse is seen on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The M/V Seawolf carried supporters from Juneau for the opening ceremony at Eldred Rock Lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Kyle Bishop, an Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association board member from Gustavus, spent about a week working on the island ahead of the grand opening on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Eava Staira Lockie 16, and Jeff ivaniszek, 16, of Scouting America’s Troop 6 in Juneau raise the flags in an opening ceremony on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
A group of supporters say the pledge of allegiance during the opening ceremony and flag raising for Eldred Rock Lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Sisters Sue York, executive director of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association (left) and Donna Lentz, who volunteered for the first lighthouse keeper shift, watch the flag rising during the opening ceremony of the lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Members of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association board of directors celebrate and cheer following the opening ceremony for the lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Volunteers and supporters celebrate the public opening of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse in Lynn Canal on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Supporters from Haines and Juneau participated in an opening day cruise during the opening ceremony at Eldred Rock Lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The light at Eldred Rock Lighthouse is 91 ft above sea level and has a range of more than 15 miles. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Scout Eava Staira Lockie of Juneau is seen enjoying the view looking north from the top of Eldred Rock Lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Sue York, executive director of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association is seen on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Restored living quarters at Eldred Rock Lighthouse include a dining area, kitchen, and five bedrooms and will include a maritime museum in the future. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
The Eldred Rock Lighthouse entrance is seen on May 30,2026. The design is one of the few early structures that combined the light and the keeper’s quarters. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Rail car was used to carry supplies from the Eldred Rock Lighthouse to out buildings, seen on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
An Eldred Rock Lighthouse life ring is seen on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Doug Adamson, the great-grandson of the first lighthouse keeper at Eldred Rock Lighthouse, Nils P. Adamson, presents to a post lantern owned by his great-grandfather and kept by the family as a gift to the lighthouse’s future maritime museum on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Volunteers continue work on installing a dock and gangway, the last piece for groups of visitors to safely arrive and depart from Eldred Rock Lighthouse, expected to be completed in the next few days following the opening ceremony on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Siblings Tainya and Doug Adamson present their great-grandfather, Nils P. Adamson’s flag as the first lighthouse keeper of Eldred Rock beginning in 1905 as a gift to the future maritime museum at the lighthouse on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Supporters wave goodbye to volunteers at the Eldred Rock Lighthouse before departing after the grand opening ceremony on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Imogene Nowlin, age 4, shows off her drawing with her grandfather Ed Page, a member of the Eldred Rock Lighthouse Preservation Association board and founder of the non-profit Marine Exchange. She spent time drawing the lighthouse on the M/V Seawolf as a smaller group of supporters disembarked on the island for the opening ceremony on May 30, 2026. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Tuesday night, partly cloudy skies. Low 48F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Wednesday, partly cloudy skies during the morning hours will become overcast in the afternoon. High 71F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.
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