By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
Treg Taylor, the former Alaska attorney general, is running for governor, he announced Wednesday morning.
“I have a four-and-a-half-year proven record as the attorney general of fighting crime, fighting Biden, and fighting for Alaska,” he said by phone.
In a campaign video and written statement, Taylor promoted himself as a “fearless conservative” who is the best successor to incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited and unable to run for another four years in office.
Taylor is the 10th Republican and 11th candidate overall to enter the 2026 Alaska governor’s race.
The lone non-Republican in the race is former state Sen. Tom Begich, an Anchorage Democrat.
The other Republicans are Anchorage business owner Bernadette Wilson; former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; former Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom of Eagle River; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; and Bruce Walden of Palmer.
“That is a ridiculous number of people in the race,” Taylor said when asked how he distinguishes himself from the other Republicans. “My answer is that I am the only candidate that has a proven record of fighting on behalf of Alaska. When I was the attorney general for four and a half years, I fought crime, I fought Biden, I fought for Alaska’s economic future. I’ve been heavily involved with the Trump administration. I helped draft Trump’s first day Executive Order unleashing Alaska’s extraordinary resource potential. And I’ve worked hard with the Trump administration, with (Department of the Interior), (Department of Justice), to see fulfillment of that executive order, which is going to push Alaska’s economic future.”
Asked about his campaign plans, Taylor said, “over the next few months, I’ll be hard at work, visiting with groups, visiting with individuals, working up support, fundraising. Obviously, I think the biggest tell in this race is going to be when everybody divulges their fundraising and our goal is to be at the top of that list, and I think we’ve got a good plan for getting there.”
Taylor, a longtime attorney with a degree from the Brigham Young University law school, worked in private practice and for Arctic Slope Regional Corp. before joining the Alaska Department of Law in 2018. He was head of the department’s civil division in 2021 when Dunleavy picked him as attorney general following the resignations of two other men amid sexual misconduct scandals.
Taylor, who has never held publicly elected office before, ran unsuccessfully for the Anchorage School Board in 2011 and for that city’s Assembly in 2016.
Taylor’s entry into the governor’s race marks an unusually early start for an Alaska campaign. Eight years ago, when now-Gov. Dunleavy launched his campaign in July 2017, he was the first high-profile candidate to challenge then-Gov. Bill Walker. This time around, three candidates had entered the race before June.
While the race is unusually crowded, additional candidates are still possible. Republican U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has not ruled out a campaign, and a run by former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, is also possible.
