By SUZANNE DOWNING
Aug. 11, 2026 – The nation’s largest federal employee union has endorsed Mary Peltola for US Senate and Bill Hill for Alaska’s lone US House seat, a pairing that makes perfect sense once voters understand what the union expects in return.
The American Federation of Government Employees announced Tuesday that it is backing the two candidates in Alaska’s Aug. 18 primary and Nov. 3 general election.
“Mary and Bill have reached out to our local leaders to get to know them and their concerns and have earned this endorsement,” AFGE District 11 National Vice President Tim Snyder said in a press release.
Those concerns, according to the union’s announcement, include restoring collective-bargaining power, protecting federal employment and preventing “shortsighted political decisions” that could reduce the size or reach of the federal government.
In other words, the foxes would like a larger role in deciding who guards the henhouse.
The union has a direct financial interest in electing politicians who favor more federal employees, higher federal salaries, stronger union contracts, and fewer reductions in government waste. AFGE is endorsing candidates who promise to defend and expand the institution from which its members receive their paychecks. Fox, meet henhouse.
AFGE represents more than 820,000 federal and District of Columbia government workers nationally. Its District 11 covers Alaska, Colorado, Guam, Idaho, Montana, Okinawa, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming, representing more than 68,500 federal employees.
The union’s announcement says more than 15,000 federal employees live in Alaska. The latest Alaska Department of Labor figures put the civilian federal workforce at 13,767 during the fourth quarter of 2025, down from 15,374 a year earlier. Alaska nevertheless remains among the states with the highest concentration of federal employment.
Government jobs are generally far above poverty-level. The state Department of Labor reports that Alaska’s average federal salary was just under $100,000 in fiscal year 2024. Average salaries in the federal departments of Justice and Transportation were approximately $143,000 and $141,000, respectively. Those salaries are supported by private-sector taxpayers whose own employment may be seasonal, volatile, or directly threatened by federal regulation.
That is how a two-tier economy begins to take shape. One group has government salaries, federal benefits, pensions, union protection and considerable insulation from the economic consequences of federal decisions. The other must work harder to produce enough wealth to finance the federal employment system while wondering whether the next regulation, land withdrawal or permitting decision will eliminate its project or job.
AFGE describes Peltola and Hill as “labor champions,” although in this case “labor” means something different from the contractor wondering where the next project will come from, the commercial fisherman facing another closure or the resource worker waiting years for a federal permit.
The union praised Peltola for co-sponsoring the PRO Act while serving in Congress and for promising to restore collective-bargaining rights for federal employees, including some Department of Defense workers. Hill, a former teacher, principal and superintendent, is a former member of the Laborers’ Union and National Education Association. AFGE says he wants to become Congress’ “No. 1 champion” for the PRO Act and government unions.
The endorsement also provides another clue about Hill, who is running as an undeclared candidate and has declined to openly tell Alaskans whether he would caucus with Republicans or Democrats if elected. The institutions lining up behind him seem to have little difficulty figuring out which side he would strengthen.
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AFGE says its endorsements are based on candidates’ records and positions, not simply party labels. The union occasionally supports Republicans who vote its way, particularly in districts with large federal workforces. But nationally, its political orientation is unmistakable.
AFGE endorsed Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Biden-Harris ticket for president. Its political spending has overwhelmingly favored Democrats, commonly by margins of roughly 94% to 95%. One notable exception came in 2016, when the National Border Patrol Council endorsed Donald Trump while the parent union supported Clinton.
The union’s choices are rational. Democrats generally favor a larger federal workforce, more federal spending and greater power for public-employee unions. AFGE supports Democrats because Democrats are more likely to support AFGE’s institutional growth.
Alaska has seen this relationship before. At statehood, Alaska leaned Democratic. Its first governor, Bill Egan, was a Democrat. Its first two US senators, Ernest Gruening and Bob Bartlett, were Democrats, as was its first congressman, Ralph Rivers. Alaska did not become consistently Republican until the 1970s, when oil, construction, cargo, and other private-sector industries became more important to the economy.
That political change followed an economic change. The more Alaska developed a wealth-producing private sector, the more its voters moved away from the party of centralized government.
The tension remains especially sharp because Washington controls so much of Alaska. At the time of statehood, approximately 99% of Alaska’s land was federally owned. Even today, the federal government owns or manages roughly 60% of the state.
Federal agencies have repeatedly used that power to hobble Alaska’s economic opportunities. The Biden administration canceled Arctic National Wildlife Refuge leases, imposed protections on more than 13 million acres of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and reinstated restrictions affecting the Tongass National Forest. The Environmental Protection Agency used its authority to block the Pebble mine before the project could even enter the normal federal permitting process.
A federal judge later ruled that the Biden administration had improperly canceled the ANWR leases, but years of delay have consequences. Capital leaves. Projects stall. Private-sector workers lose opportunities.
The federal officials administering those decisions continued receiving their salaries and benefits.
That is the central problem with AFGE’s endorsement. The people whose livelihoods depend on the machinery of federal government are organizing to elect candidates who promise to protect that machinery. Meanwhile, the Alaskans whose livelihoods depend on mining, logging, oil, gas, construction and access to federal lands are expected to pay for it — and politely accept whatever Washington permits them to do.
AFGE has every right to defend its members and participate in elections. Alaska voters have an equal right to recognize the transaction for what it is.
The union wants Peltola and Hill guarding the federal henhouse because it is confident they will keep it well stocked.
Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.
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3 thoughts on “Suzanne Downing: Foxes demand henhouse access with latest Big Union endorsement”
The Democrats hate dedicated scrutiny by Dunleavy’s election officials. Dunleavy is making damn sure they can’t cheat easily.
When workers unionized it was for government employees. Unions initially were for giving more power to private sector employees if they formed a union to better advocate for better working conditions and better compensation
Because it’s through their Labor bringing the profits to the business owners and managerial staff
Government workers labor does not produce profits. Their wages are from taxpayers who labored for the earnings that a portion is taken to fund government. So Government dependent employees have nothing to barter unlike private sector employees who have their labor that the work done determines that days profits to barter.
Just to remind whose jobs are more important. For majority of most Government dependent workers your work is not that important and society can live without your government job Work
AFGE is one of several large unions that bargain on behalf of federal employees.
In Alaska AFGE represents blue collar civilian federal employees on Alaska’s military bases. People who maintain the infrastructure. They are not the bureaucrats union in Alaska; they are the union for folks who work outdoors in cold temperatures, wear insulated gloves and turn wrenches on the bases.
AFGE also represents VA employees in Alaska. They do not represent the managers of those employees.
And when the managers are over their heads, incompetent, or insensitive toward the veteran, AFGE stands up not only for the rank and file but also for the veteran.
I can attest to the fact that the AFGE does endorse Republicans in Alaska who put in the extra effort to earn it. And those electeds who have taken the time to develop relationship with the local leaders are often the first to hear what’s really happening on the ground. And that includes the good, as well as the bad and the downright ugly.
AFGE partnered with Ted to get Alaska federal employees locality pay instead of COLA that didn’t count to their retirement benefits. Lisa worked with the AFGE to address critical gaps in service delivery as Alaska veterans returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. Gaps that a certain former VA Alaska Health System manager preferred to shove under the rug.
I don’t have any insight into AFGE’s 2026 endorsement process. I do know that paying attention to the rank and file — Alaskans serving Alaskans —goes a long way. Electeds earn that respect by showing up, listening and treating these skilled workers with respect.