Shocker: Republican minority in House organize with Rep. DeLena Johnson as leader, Ruffridge as whip

Shades of the Muskox Coalition? The Alaska House Republican minority abruptly reorganized Saturday night, selecting new leadership despite written requests from Mat-Su Republican districts to delay any action until two vacant House seats from the region are filled.

The seats, formerly held by Rep. Cathy Tilton and Rep. George Rauscher, are open after both of those lawmakers were appointed to the Senate by the governor to replace Mike Shower and Shelley Hughes.

Late Saturday evening, Rep. DeLena Johnson gave members of the minority caucus with short notice before convening a Zoom meeting to hold a leadership vote. Johnson secured the support needed to take over as minority leader, while Rep. Justin Ruffridge of Soldotna was chosen as whip.

The sudden move follows the caucus turmoil earlier this month that resulted in Rep. Mia Costello resigning as House Minority Leader under pressure from the same bloc that has now backed Johnson. But even with 17 Republicans technically in the House minority, the rushed Saturday-night reorganization is fracturing the group further.

At least three members of the minority are indicating they will likely leave the caucus due to the way it was called and conducted, which they found unacceptable. Others have privately expressed concern that the excuse is that the reorganization was timed around an upcoming Republican Party meeting – GO PAC – that some members of the new leadership wanted to attend as officially recognized caucus officers.

The late-night timing also left several members unable to participate due to prior calendar items. Johnson called the meeting while at least one Republican lawmaker, Rep. Frank Tomaszewski of Fairbanks, was in the middle of a fundraiser for his reelection campaign. Rep. Rebecca Swanke of the Interior was at a hockey game. Some legislators said they did not see the notice in time to join the call, and others were not aware a vote would be taken.

There was no slate of candidates and it appears the entire vote was masterminded in advance.

Ruffridge’s elevation to whip raised additional eyebrows, as several members noted he has seldom participated in minority caucus meetings over the past year, while Costello was caucus leader. The reorganization has sparked renewed speculation about an attempt to revive the “muskox coalition,” a centrist bloc that blends Republicans and Democrats to form a majority, with some viewing Ruffridge as part of a broader left-leaning strategy to pull Republicans toward a middle-aligned governing structure. This, in spite of the fact that 24 House districts voted for Donald Trump for president in the last election.

DeLena Johnson will come off of Finance and one of the members of the caucus will have to be appointed. At this point the group has not appointed its members to committees.

The revival of the muskox coalition from the 2016 era, when a group of moderate Republicans put together their own group and joined forces with the Democrats, is a reminder of how badly that went for many of those members, who were voted out of office by their district.

The Republican minority now stands at roughly 17 members, but it’s unclear how many will stay. Ten are required to maintain official caucus status. For now, the minority remains intact on paper, but the sudden Saturday-night leadership shift, the timing of the vote, and the dismissal of requests from Mat-Su districts have created fault lines inside an already unsettled House Republican bloc.

Valley Republicans ask legislative caucus to hold off on reorganization