From Sanders and Harris to shutdown politics, Alaska Democrats keep going to extremes

Day 20 of the federal government shutdown has come and gone, and Democrats still refuse to budge. They voted down opening up the government.

But while the standoff in Washington is a national story, Alaska’s political dynamics are a local reflection of the same ideological divide, and nowhere is that radicalism clearer than in the Alaska Democratic Party itself.

The Alaska Democratic Party is not a moderate bunch. It’s among the most left-leaning in the country, as its recent history shows. In the 2016 Democratic presidential caucus, Alaska Democrats overwhelmingly backed Bernie Sanders, the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont. Sanders didn’t just win in Alaska – he crushed Hillary Clinton, taking roughly 82% of the Democrat vote and securing 13 of the state’s 16 delegates.

I’ll remind readers that in Alaska, Sanders had the biggest victory margin anywhere outside his home state of Vermont just nine years ago.

The caucus that year was open to registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters, meaning those results reflected the preferences of Alaska’s core Democratic base. Turnout was low, but Sanders dominated across all 40 legislative districts – from traditional Democratic areas like Juneau and Anchorage’s downtown, to even some Republican-leaning districts that saw Democrats favoring his “eat the rich” message.

By 2020, when Alaska Democrats shifted to a mail-in primary because of Covid-19, the state’ party’s radical streak was still on display. Joe Biden won that year’s primary with 55.3 percent of the vote to Sanders’ 44.7% – a relatively narrow win, especially considering Sanders had dropped out before the ballot deadline. Even in withdrawal, Sanders still pulled nearly half the vote.

That’s not the sign of a centrist party.

Then came 2024. After President Biden suspended his campaign in July, Alaska Democrats immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. There was no dissent. All 20 delegates – including pledged and superdelegates like Rep. Mary Peltola – fell in line, calling the endorsement the result of “careful deliberations.” The unified, top-down move showed how Alaska’s Democrats march to the tune played by the national party.

If Alaska Democrats had their way, Bernie Sanders would have been president in 2016, and Kamala Harris would be president now, without having won a single delegate in the full national delegate process.

Yet, while they make up only about 12.5% of Alaska’s registered voters, compared with roughly 24% registered as Republicans, Democrats continue to punch well above their weight in Alaska politics. They effectively control the State House and Senate through a coalition majority. Much of that is due to Republicans who’ve caved or crossed over, giving Democrats leverage they could never achieve by numbers alone.

And at the local level, Democrats are celebrating fresh victories. In Fairbanks, for the first time in 12 years, Democrats flipped both the local Assembly and the mayor’s office, unseating conservative Mayor Dave Pruhs. Democrat activists and operatives celebrated the win openly on social media, signaling growing organization and enthusiasm at the municipal level.

Conservatives in Alaska, by contrast, are a more independent-minded bunch. They are not herd animals, as the saying goes. That independence can be a strength, but it can also be a weakness when it comes to coordinated political power. Meanwhile, Alaska’s Democrats continue to act in unison, not just ideologically, but strategically.

As the federal shutdown drags on, the national and state Democratic parties are moving in lockstep: no compromise, no moderation, and no interest in working across the aisle.

Alaska’s political story is just a smaller version of what’s happening nationwide: a radicalized minority driving the agenda on a government shutdown Even as the national Democrats have lost 2.1 million registrants over the past four years, as the nation turns away from them in disgust, they’ve not moderated their platform to appeal to the majority of voters.

Now is the time for Alaska Republicans to take advantage of the Democrat dysfunction and drive home the message of Republicanism — individual liberty and personal responsibility, smaller government and stronger families. These are the things that made America – and Alaska – great in the first place.

National shift toward Republicans is worrying Democrats, which see their numbers shrinking

Hegseth’s Pentagon tightened media access, and the press had its usual meltdown