By SUZANNE DOWNING
Nov. 10, 2026 — Josh Church, who ran for lieutenant governor alongside Republican Dave Bronson, is now calling for Republicans to narrow their candidate fields and encourage weaker campaigns to step aside. This, after his own ticket resisted pressure to consolidate behind the leading Trump-endorsed Republican in Alaska’s governor’s race.
In a new Facebook post, Church outlined proposals for future elections, including holding an early Republican preference poll, district-level candidate vetting, and party-organized discussions about withdrawing or combining campaigns. He thinks that would have helped him and Bronson.
“Republican unity doesn’t happen automatically, and it cannot simply be demanded after the primary,” Church wrote. “It requires preparation, cooperation, honest evaluation of candidates, and a willingness to put the larger goal ahead of individual campaigns.”
The proposal follows months of ever-evolving explanations and rationale for why Bronson and Church continued running against Bernadette Wilson, the highest-finishing Republican in the August primary.
Their arguments ranged from having the best chance to elect a Republican governor, to giving voters additional choices, to encouraging Republican turnout and supporting Sen. Dan Sullivan.
“She can’t win,” was the first rationale.
The Bronson-Church obsession with Bernadette Wilson continues behind the scenes: Document drop
Church’s latest prescription includes a qualification: He believes earlier consolidation could have benefited Bronson or fellow Republican Treg Taylor.
“I believe these efforts could have redirected substantial support toward Treg Taylor or Dave Bronson, potentially changing the order in which Republican candidates finished in the primary,” he wrote. In other words, anyone but Bernadette for him.
Wilson, who finished ahead of both by a large margin was absent from his assessment.
Before the primary, Bronson initialed a House District 8 vetting document committing to withdraw when he lacked a majority and continued competition with another Republican would split the vote. The language was a district endorsement condition, rather than a statewide party rule.
After Wilson finished ahead of him, Bronson stayed in. In an August video, he argued that the large Republican field had produced no clear mandate. He went back on his word.
“The Bronson-Church ticket gives us the best chance at making sure our state has a Republican governor in November,” he said at the time.
The argument emphasized the voters who had chosen someone other than Wilson. He said she had just 10%. But Wilson’s roughly 10% of the overall primary vote was not 10% of the Republican vote.
With 12 Republicans competing, her 16,468 primary votes represented over 20.27 of votes cast for Republican candidates — the largest Republican share.
Church acknowledged Wilson’s position during a September appearance on the Michael Dukes Show.
“She did come in first place, and it makes sense for some consolidation,” he acknowledged. “So I can understand her position.”
His comments nevertheless suggested Taylor, who initially finished outside the top four, should consider stepping aside. Consolidation was an option for another campaign while Bronson and Church continued their own.
Bronson’s running mate suggests Taylor leave governor’s race, complicating ‘rank the red’ message
By late September, Bronson and Taylor were appearing together in advertising urging voters to rank all three Republicans. That message offered a response to spoiler criticism: Supporters could choose their preferred Republican first and rank the others, allowing their votes to transfer if their first choice was eliminated.
Yet the unity message ran alongside their continuing criticism of Wilson. They never let up on attacking the leading Republican.
The Alaska Story reported an email exchange in which Alaska Family Council President Jim Minnery accused Bronson, Church, and adviser Alexis Johnson of turning a meeting into personal attacks on Wilson. Church disputed that, saying they had raised concerns about a candidate’s character, competence, and business record.
The Bronson-Church obsession with Bernadette Wilson continues behind the scenes: Document drop
At an Oct. 8 gubernatorial debate, Bronson again publicly questioned Wilson’s personal and financial readiness while describing his deepening friendship with Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.
The Alaska Story’s subsequent commentary highlighted the tension between urging Republican rankings and undermining a fellow Republican whom those voters might need to rank.
Suzanne Downing: Bronson says ‘rank Republicans,’ then helps the Democrat tear one down
After President Donald Trump endorsed Wilson on Oct. 13 and urged consolidation, Bronson offered yet another explanation for remaining.
Trump said Bronson had agreed to withdraw and then reversed course. Bronson disputed the account. In an Oct. 14 Alaska Public Media interview, he said he had agreed to leave if Taylor also withdrew, allowing Wilson to proceed. When that arrangement did not materialize, he resumed campaigning.
His written response also shifted attention toward turnout and the broader Republican ticket. Bronson criticized Trump’s intervention as divisive, argued that supporters of other primary candidates risked becoming discouraged, invoked obligations to donors, and urged support for Sullivan.
Also in the fall, his running mate said this writer was the most divisive aspect of the election cycle.
Suzanne Downing: Bronson’s kamikaze campaign sinks into irrelevance
In the Oct. 8 Debate for the State, Bronson said: “There’s three folks up here on this podium that have experience. There is one that brags that she does not. There’s three folks up here who have their personal house in order that pay their personal bills. There is one that does not,” referring to Wilson.
The next day, he doubled down, calling Wilson “emotionally unfit to be in office.”
He also said, “It’s important that someone with this much financial and legal issues should probably get their own house in order before trying to sell the public on their ability to hold the highest office in our state.”
Church now recommends that party leaders in the future encourage candidates polling at 2–4% to consider withdrawing, combining campaigns, or joining stronger teams. He also urges eliminated candidates to redirect volunteers and resources toward a remaining candidate.
“There are certainly others, including mistakes our own campaign made,” he wrote of the lessons Republicans should learn.
He did not identify his campaign’s own mistakes.
Meanwhile, Bronson has also pivoted his rationale for staying in as a spoiler, writing that he “stayed in to help Sullivan by driving more voters to the poles [polls].”
As of the Nov. 9 count, Wilson had 28.82% of first-choice votes, Bronson 14.06%, and Taylor 7.41%. Kreiss-Tomkins led with 49.42%. Counting remained underway with more ballots set to be counted and announced today (Nov. 10).
The documented contradiction is that Bronson/Church now want Republicans to facilitate consolidation, while their own campaign resisted consolidation behind the Republican who finished first and had the endorsement of the leader of the free world. His proposed alternative looks back to an earlier process that might have put Bronson or Taylor in Wilson’s position.
34 thoughts on “After refusing to consolidate, losing candidate Josh Church says Republicans should consolidate next time”
Hmmm(?) …
With great insight such as this, I wonder what investment ideas ‘Captain Obvious’ has to offer?
Church has come to the realization that his political future is DEAD.
This sanctimonious pablum he is spewing now is irritating as hell.
I’ll never vote for Church or Bronson EVER.
Bernadette received DOUBLE the votes you two clowns received.
Bronson’s record:
Failed as mayor of Anchorage (we can see why now).
Failed running the Anchorage airport (talk to people on the inside about what really happened there).
Yeah, this was really brilliant. /sarc
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He helps get us the pint sized commie and all the BS that will come to simply realize…..oops.
Sorry for your loss, Josh. You’ll be forever linked to the loser Dave Bronson.
There’s no escaping it. You were in a position to walk away in September, even if it meant pissing off Bronson. But your comments being made in mid-November gives you no consolation prize. Your plane already crashed with you and Bronson in it. Your parachute doesn’t save you now.
I absolutely agree witchoo, leftseater.
Third, here …..
Josh, maybe now you’ll head over to the “demorat” side, since you will fit in wonderfully with their modus operandi!
Bronson and Church. Two useless sap-suckers who screwed the pooch and will forever pay the price for any office they intend to campaign for in the future. Hope you both can look at yourself in mirror.
Not trusting women is not the same as being a mysogonist. I don’t believe Dave Bronson is either. His EGO is Dave’s problem. He doesn’t think anybody is smarter than he is. That’s his problem. When your ego gets in the way of team play, the team usually loses. We all took one for Dave Bronson’s fragile ego, and now we will all pay the price. Having a homosexual boy who likes taxes, LGBTQ in public schools, and DEI everywhere will damage our great state beyond comprehension. If Bronson seeks some kind of open conciliation with JKT, then we know who our enemy is.
What is left unsaid is the impossibility of Dave Bronson to accept that he was beaten by a woman. The attack on Bernadette’s supposed emotional unfitness makes that perfectly clear. Bronson has never gotten along with women, which is a sign that he is insecure and sexist. There was no good argument for him to stay in the race, not after the results of the primary. Because of his outsized ego and his insecurity, we have lost the chance for conservative policies and responsible spending for the next four years. I feel pity for the man, having to live with himself. The only upside is that nobody will vote for Bronson again, and his political career has gone the way of Sarah Palin’s.
Speaking of Palin, she seems less bad than all of the Republicans during this last goat rope.
What evidence do you have that he doesn’t get along with women? Have your worked with him? Have you worked for him? Do you know his wife and daughter personally?
You keep writing about Dave’s sexism, when his persistence in the Governor’s race seems to be all you have to go on. You get upset when anyone attacks Bernadette’s character, but his has been fair game this entire election cycle. Why is that?
Somehow, Suzanne seems to have convinced you and others that attacking a candidate’s character can only be directed at the men in the race. Was Bernadette untouchable because it’s disgraceful to question a woman’s character, but always fair game to assume the worst of a man’s?
Tricky questions all around.
Johnny Tomkins is building his cabinet in case you are looking for gayful employment….Josh
It will be interesting to see if Mr. Bronson and/or Mr. Church receive any kind of award: paid board or commission appointments, employment at an NGO, legislative staff jobs working for one of the RINOS, or the ever popular State contract of some kind.
Republicans need leadership and its time people got involved to insure that the Leaders of this party provide clear direction and discipline. Over at the Alaska Democrat headquarters this principle is firmly in place. We are stuck with RCV and need to adapt if we are to survive.
Bronson and Church should be throughly disciplined, mocked and or tarred and feathered for the damage they have caused. I’m not into retribution, but an example must be made, lest another knucklehead tries this again.
Bronson reminds me of one of the low IQ Board members of the Bushwood Country Club, depicted in the movie Caddyshack. Arrogant, incredibly stupid and out of touch with reality. Church is his lickspittle.
Sorry fellas , but Alaska and its future are more important than your bruised egos.
Go in peace, but most importantly just Go!
Right on, Robert, right on. Alaska’s Republican Party is a joke and needs a complete overhaul.
Kevin, this over haul can only happen if you and the rest of us become fully engaged in the Party. Given what is at stake its the only way we as free people will survive.
Bronson and Church are now the pariahs of the Alaska Republican Party.
Thank Sweet Jesus this condescending, anti-First Amendment bastard gets nowhere near the lieutenant governor’s office, except maybe to mop floors when his Democrat friends move in.
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“Mischaracterizing the truth” is what young Josh mumbles because he hasn’t the cojones to call Madam Editor a liar.
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A word from fellow Anti-Wilson Warrior Treg was all it took to separate Madam Editor from “Must Read Alaska”, but Josh hasn’t the horsepower to pull that off either.
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But the boy’s clearly earned his legacy.
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One which voters won’t likely let him forget.
So basically Church believes that the primary election isn’t valid enough to create a winner? Who is Church or Bronson to cast disparaging remarks to the primary winner of the people’s choice? Rules for thee but not for me? Pretty sure that’s not in the new or Old Testament.
“Republican unity doesn’t happen automatically, and it cannot simply be demanded after the primary,” Church wrote.
What do you mean by THAT asinine comment, Church? The Democrats did exactly that after one candidate emerged as the largest vote getter! Their unity happened immediately after the primary, and NOW the little queer boy will take the governor’s mansion. Fuck YOU and the horses you two rode in on! In my opinion, you two should just get the hell out of Alaska and move to OreGONE where you belong. Same with you, Taylor.
I suggest we stop blaming these lower-tier candidates; they are merely symptoms of the real problem. The Alaska Republican Party (ARP) is a hollow shell of what it once was. Zero leadership (duh…. rank the red). “We can’t promote a single candidate; we don’t want to offend lower-tiered Republicans.” They couldn’t show more weakness if they tried. Within 4hrs of arriving in Alaska, Trump provided more leadership than the ARP has provided in a decade. He told people who to vote for (Wilson). Leadership 101.
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Meanwhile, you never saw Democrats telling you to rank the blue. They didn’t need to. Tom Begich bowed out immediately. Leadership 101.
You nailed it.
Kevin, have pity for those poor horses!
At least Church has the humility to admit things should have been done differently.
And he’s right: you can’t just demand party unity after the primary.
Rather than making public demands of fellow candidates (the “sign my pledge to drop out if you’re not the top vote getter” letter, the “drop out and get behind me” video), perhaps Bernadette should’ve sat down with the candidates and had some rational conversations about how they should approach things. From what I can tell, she chose spectacle over prudence and practical wisdom.
How likely is it that the 30,000+ people who ranked Bronson first would’ve thrown their first place ranking to Bernadette if he had dropped out and encouraged them to do so?
If anything can be said for Dave, he’s consistent and he sticks to his guns: if he truly believes Bernadette is unfit for political office, he should not endorse her.
And quite frankly, endorsements from Begich and Trump, post primary, both came off as strained. Begich pointed out that he endorsed her because he said he’d endorse the top vote getter in the primary, Trump because he felt he “had a moral obligation” to do so. Nothing about Bernadette’s qualifications in their initial endorsements. Not exactly ringing, one might conclude. There’s no shame to be piled on anyone for not following in lockstep with Trump.
And the email exchange or private meeting with Minnery? None of our business.
Are we to believe that Bernadette never spoke a negative word about the other candidates behind closed doors or among people she could trust? The privacy of the exchange between Bronson/Church and Minnery should have been respected, not violated for the purpose of swinging voters away from Dave and toward Bernadette.
Suzanne has repeatedly shown Bernadette in a good light and Dave in a bad light, from the very beginning of the campaign. Her love for Bernadette and disdain for Dave as her competitor created totally biased reporting. She bears some responsibility for increasing division among conservatives.
And for heavens’ sake, despite Carmela Warfield’s rosy email, so does the Republican Party!
We would all be better off if we used prudence to determine the best course of action in any endeavor, rather than political expedience. RCV is bad for many reasons, but tricking voters into believing there’s a moral imperative to employ political expedience over prudence is probably the worst.
If you look at the current vote tallies
If it had just been Bernadette and joker Thompson.,the republican would have one. There were more votes for republicans than the democrat, however since we had to split it all up it looks like a trouncing by the dem. I thought we all figured this out when nick begich won, vote for one…..don’t rank anyone else. Bernadette may not be perfect but she was the majority favorite. Lessons learned I guess.
“Thompson”? Learn your governor-elect’s name.
The question mark goes inside the quotation marks. Learn 3rd grade grammar.
Wrong, GrammarNoob. grammarbookREMOVEcom/blog/quotation-marks/question-marks-with-quotation-marks/
Sal Greenfield, everything you say is right on, except for one thing: “Lessons learned.” Recent history has shown the Alaska Republican Party is unable to learn… which is the definition of stupidity.
Next week’s election results will show that the majority of Alaska’s voters preferred Kreiss-Tomkins to each of the three Republicans he beat. The rest is just sore-loser finger pointing and whining.
If there was an actual plan, it failed. Not a surprise. Those responsible should stay away from future elections. Time to start fresh.
Yup.
The existing Alaska state republican leadership has FAILED – “we the people”.
They all need to resign in disgrace.
We need new fresh blood.
I’m so tired of the NeoCon RINO crap – aka Bronson/Church.
The republican leadership truly deserved what happened – it’s all their fault on the national and state level.
What’s the old saying? “Better for people to think you a fool than open your mouth and prove them right “.
Or another favorite, “when you’re in a hole stop digging”.
Mr Church seems to understand neither.