By SUZANNE DOWNING
Step. 13, 2026 – The Juneau Pro-Choice Coalition Political Action Committee has released its endorsements for the Oct. 6 municipal election. The group applied an abortion-rights test to candidates seeking seats on the Juneau Assembly and Board of Education.
The endorsements give voters another indication of the political leanings of candidates running for Juneau’s officially nonpartisan local offices. But neither the Assembly nor the school board writes Alaska’s abortion laws, and none of the positions on the municipal ballot has direct authority to regulate abortion access.
The PAC awarded what it calls its “Full Pro-Choice Endorsement” to seven candidates:
- Assembly areawide: Paul Kelly
- Assembly District 1: Mila Cosgrove
- Assembly District 2: Karla Hart, Joyce Niven and Malachi Thorington
- Board of Education: Britteny Cioni-Haywood and David Noon
That means those candidates believe in abortion — and taxpayer-funded abortion — all the way to the point of birth.
The group said Assembly areawide candidates James McCants and Brad Sapp did not respond to its questionnaire. District 2 candidate David Lee Morris also did not respond.
School board candidate Christine Johnson responded but was listed as “not endorsed.”
The PAC’s endorsement policy requires candidates to affirm support for legal abortion and contraception, taxpayer funding of abortions for low-income women and confidential reproductive-health services for minors. Candidates must also oppose laws, regulations or policies that “hinder, delay, or impede access to legal abortion services,” according to the endorsement notice.
That is a broad ideological test for offices whose regular responsibilities involve property taxes, public safety, land use, utilities, schools, roads and the municipal budget, not state abortion law.
The Assembly can make budget decisions involving municipal services and appoint members to municipal boards, but Alaska abortion law is determined at the state and federal levels and through the courts. The Juneau Board of Education has no authority to legalize, prohibit or regulate abortion.
The endorsements therefore appear to function primarily as an ideological signal to voters rather than as guidance about an issue the winning candidates will be empowered to decide.
The PAC endorsed three of the four candidates competing for the District 2 Assembly seat. It endorsed both Kelly and Cosgrove in their respective races, while Kelly faces two opponents and Cosgrove is the only certified candidate for the District 1 seat.
For the school board, voters will elect two members. The PAC endorsed two of the three certified candidates and withheld its endorsement from Johnson.
The City and Borough of Juneau’s certified candidate list shows one areawide Assembly seat, one District 1 seat, one District 2 seat and two Board of Education seats on the ballot. Although Assembly candidates must reside in the district they seek to represent, all Juneau voters may vote in every Assembly and school board race.
The municipal election is conducted primarily by mail. According to the CBJ election calendar, ballots will be mailed Sept. 18 to registered Juneau voters in good standing. Secure drop boxes also open that day.
The PAC’s endorsement notice says voting by mail begins Sept. 21, but the municipal clerk’s official schedule says ballots are mailed Sept. 18. Sept. 21 is the date Juneau’s two in-person vote centers open at City Hall and the Mendenhall Valley Public Library.
Ballots must be returned or postmarked by Oct. 6. Drop boxes and in-person voting locations close at 8 pm that day. Preliminary unofficial results will begin appearing election night, with final certification scheduled for Oct. 20.
The endorsement advertisement identifies Dez Arrowsun as the PAC’s chair and says its top contributors are Lauren Jones, Megan Hull and Kristin Young.
