Before final vote, Gov. Dunleavy wrote support for Blanche as attorney general, contrary to Murkowski’s stance

By THE ALASKA STORY

Aug. 8, 2026 – Gov. Mike Dunleavy and three other senior Alaska officials urged the US Senate to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general Friday, citing hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for Alaska, expanded federal law enforcement and aggressive prosecution of drug traffickers, child predators and fraud.

Their endorsement put Alaska’s executive branch in direct conflict with Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who voted against Blanche hours later.

Blanche was confirmed without Murkowski’s support by a narrow 50-49 vote. Murkowski and Maine Sen. Susan Collins were the only Republicans to join all voting Democrats in opposing President Donald Trump’s nominee. Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy provided the pivotal vote needed for confirmation.

The three-page letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley was signed by Dunleavy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Counsel to the Governor Stephen Cox and Acting Alaska Attorney General Cori Mills.

“We, the undersigned leaders of the State of Alaska, write to express our appreciation for the service of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and to convey our support for his confirmation as the 88th Attorney General of the United States,” they wrote.

The letter presented a record sharply at odds with Murkowski’s decision. While the senator questioned whether Blanche would exercise sufficient independence from Trump, Alaska’s top state officials focused on what his Justice Department has delivered for Alaskans.

“During his tenure, the Department of Justice has advanced a number of matters of significant importance to our state, and we believe his continued leadership would serve Alaska and the entire nation well,” the state officials wrote.

Among the accomplishments cited was a $400 million resolution, plus approximately $63 million in interest, involving contract-support reimbursements owed to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. The officials said the settlement resolved longstanding obligations and supported healthcare institutions relied upon by Alaska communities.

The letter also praised the Justice Department’s $180 million settlement of the long-running Port of Alaska litigation. State officials said the agreement ended years of legal conflict and allowed Alaska to concentrate on modernizing the port, a critical piece of infrastructure through which much of the state’s food and consumer goods move.

Dunleavy and the other signers also credited Blanche’s department with resolving litigation over the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The federal government’s change of course recognized that previous restrictions were inconsistent with congressional requirements, the letter said, while advancing American energy dominance and opening Alaska’s resource potential.

Public safety figured prominently in the endorsement.

According to the letter, a 167-day federal law enforcement surge in Alaska resulted in 431 search warrants, the sentencing of 88 defendants to a combined 6,552 months in prison and the reversal of eight magistrate release orders. The Justice Department also secured funding for a new rural assistant U.S. attorney and began arrangements to station five FBI agents permanently in Alaska.

Federal prosecutors brought 23 major drug cases and intercepted more than 65 kilograms of narcotics moving through the mail, including fentanyl linked to cartels and destined for rural Alaska, the officials wrote.

They also cited 11 significant child-exploitation cases filed this year and the work of the Justice Department’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons coordinator. According to the letter, 20 of 21 cases handled through that effort were resolved during the year.

The department identified approximately $400 million in Small Business Administration fraud, expanded its Alaska Civil Division thirteenfold and pursued healthcare fraud, Covid-era fraud and public corruption cases, the letter said.

Alaska also received more than $97 million in Justice Department grants during fiscal year 2025 for Tribal governments, nonprofit organizations and law enforcement agencies. The funding supported victims’ services, programs combating violence against women, drug interdiction and efforts to reduce repeat criminal offenses.

“Taken together, these developments reflect a period of productive engagement between the Department of Justice and the State of Alaska, and a leadership that has given serious attention to our state’s particular needs,” the four Alaska officials concluded.

Murkowski said the country needed an attorney general who would restrain the administration’s “worst impulses” and expressed concern about the politicization of the Justice Department.

Her vote ultimately did not prevent confirmation. It did, however, leave Alaska speaking with two starkly different voices.

The state officials responsible for working directly with the Justice Department said Blanche’s leadership had brought concrete benefits to Alaska Native healthcare, public safety, rural law enforcement, energy development and critical infrastructure.

Alaska’s senior senator voted no anyway.