By SUZANNE DOWNING
Gubernatorial candidate Dave Bronson has selected Fairbanks financial adviser Joshua Church as his running mate for lieutenant governor, announcing the ticket in Interior Alaska as Bronson continues building out his 2026 campaign.
Bronson, the former mayor of Anchorage, filed a letter of intent to run for governor on Sept. 20, 2025, and has been traveling the state since then, meeting with grassroots supporters and political leaders. The choice of Church brings an Interior Alaska presence to the ticket and adds a private-sector financial background alongside Bronson’s executive and military experience.
He said Church is young, aware of what is going on in the business community. Bronson said he has a bit of a blind spot for Fairbanks and the Interior and Church will help him overcome that blind spot. He said Church will be his primary advisor, not just someone to “guard the seal.”
Church is a financial adviser with Arbor Capital Management in Fairbanks, where he has worked since 2020. Before entering the finance world, Church served nine years in the US Marine Corps, including time with Marine Reconnaissance and Marine Special Operations, with deployments on four continents.
According to his professional biography, Church returned to Alaska in 2016 to raise his family and begin a new chapter after leaving the military. He started a construction company, invested in local real estate, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks before transitioning into wealth management.
Church’s background blends military, business, and local civic involvement — a mix Bronson’s campaign says fits its message of fiscal discipline, self-reliance, and public service.
Church is currently pursuing Wealth Management Certified Professional and Chartered Financial Analyst designations. His civic and organizational affiliations include being a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, a member of Gun Owners of America, an ACAST board member, a GVEA-MAC member, and a Fairbanks North Star Borough animal control commissioner.
Video clip of Josh Church announcement
He is also well-known locally through his family’s business and civic ties. His brother, Seth Church, is a Fairbanks businessman who serves on the University of Alaska Board of Regents.
Bronson, a retired US Air Force lieutenant colonel and businessman, served one term as mayor of Anchorage from 2021 to 2024. His tenure was marked by battles with the leftist-controlled Anchorage Assembly over pandemic policies, budgeting, and executive authority, earning him strong support from conservative voters and ongoing criticism from Anchorage’s progressive political establishment.
By announcing Church as his running mate in Fairbanks, Bronson signaled an early effort to build a statewide footprint that includes Interior Alaska.
Church is a combat veteran and is the father of three. Outside of work and public service, he is active in outdoor pursuits including hunting, hiking, snow machining, and dipnetting, and raises animals on his property, a lifestyle that mirrors the Interior Alaska culture Bronson is courting as the campaign moves toward the 2026 election.
10 thoughts on “Breaking: Bronson chooses Josh Church as his lieutenant governor running mate”
No political, or public service credentials. And no name recognition . Never heard of the man. Doesn’t mean he isn’t a good person, but Bronson needs a much stronger running mate who has political experience, or is well known in the community.
Agree. 100%
Interesting!
It’s remarkable for Bronson to note that he has a blind spot and aims to rectify it. Humility is a bulwark for integrity.
GO BRONSON!
During his Anchorage mayor term, he didn’t know how to work with the cantankerous Assembly. If he ever did become 2027 Governor there is a higher chance he’ll be facing the same cantankerous legislators we have had since 2010. Then there was his poorer choice and political naivety in his administration appointments whom were either self serving, conceited or they left on alleged scandals. I remember the Unprofessional thoughtless and dishonest and conceited published texts of those he appointed to his Homeless coalition group. They were stupid, arrogant, and conceited much like all the other appointments he made. He didn’t know how to discern between community leaders characters to be over impressed by their political resume instead of their characters and understanding what is a professional beyond how they come across. To which the commissioners will have to know how to work with the cantankerous legislature just like him. I’m not sure if he can do that. The legislature is not a small group to work with like the Assembly was and there are More of the same type of people in the legislature and the judicial branch that’s also leftists he had to try working with on the Assembly. He’d be facing the same fight he faced in Anchorage but on a bigger field.
I doubted even more he learned his lesson when he had the Demboskis still as a cohost for an event
Considering what she did to him and setting the administration spiriling downhill that was already descending, why would Amy still be a cohost to a man whom she dragged him through the mudd and worked with one of his enemies as Scott Kendall to sue him. And he still includes her as a cohost!!? I’m not sure he learned his lesson to tell the difference between a venomous and harmless snake.
One more thing that is concerning is Fairbanks Right is an out of control mess meaning Fairbanks Right community leaders are not controlling the interior’s largest community of Fairbanks. The democrats are. It glares toward the assumption that R interior leaders also have poor discernment and judgement.
He didn’t know how to work with the Assembly?
How, pray tell, would you have “worked with” a hostile majority who’s primary goal was to obfuscate every policy or proposal you brought to the table?
How would you identify true statesmen among those around you, who would work with you and stick it out for the long haul, for the sake of the greater good? Those persons proved themselves to be in short supply, or their dedication to something outside themselves short lived.
Would you have refused to back down, staying the course amid constant mud slinging (no pun intended) by the Assembly and their bedfellows at the ADN?
Do you realize how many changes to the Anchorage Charter the Assembly made in order to take power away from the office of mayor during his term?
Would you have known how to identify and root out the large-bodied predators in the swamp at City Hall -and more importantly, would you have been able to find, among the citizens of Alaska, qualified replacements for them?
If you think Bronson was voted out of office due to ineptitude, you’ve imbibed some pretty potent kool-aid, my friend.
Promising to “work with” the other side or “reaching across the aisle” are terms used to signal a willingness to roll over and play dead, rather than fight for the good of your constituents.
I don’t want a RINO for our Governor, I want a fighter who steps up because he knows what man is and why governments are instituted among men. Dave did that when he stepped out of private life and put his hat in the ring for mayor. He’s stepping up again with the same motivation in the race for Governor.
GO BRONSON!
I can assure you, Amy was never a cohost on any event for his after she lied about her wrongful termination. Bronson even mentions her on his last podcast whohatesdave.com
Hey NotAnymore, pay no attention to that dim-wit. I think she responds just to hear herself talk. She’s a waste of brain cells. Most times, as I’ve said before, I think she reads these stories then has someone explain them to her so she can make responses which in the end still make no sense. If she thinks she can a better job at being Governor – – then maybe she could run for office herself.
Bronson is not a politician and doesn’t read the room well. He’s a pilot. A good man, but not well versed in negotiating bad weather without full instruments. His political instincts are not fully developed. He would have done better for himself by sitting down with Bernadette and working out a “deal.”
Bronson/Bernadette (or vice versa) would be a much more powerful ticket.
One that would scare the Democrats. The present ticket is not strong.