By SUZANNE DOWNING
June 30, 2026 – Republican gubernatorial candidate Bernadette Wilson announced Tuesday that she has received the endorsement of longtime conservative leader Morton Blackwell, chairman of the Conservative Leadership PAC and a veteran of President Ronald Reagan’s White House staff.
Blackwell, one of the nation’s most influential conservative activists and founder of the Leadership Institute, praised Wilson as the candidate best positioned to lead Alaska.
“I am pleased to endorse conservative Republican outsider Bernadette Wilson in the Alaska Governor’s race,” Blackwell said. “Bernadette is a proven leader who will lead the fight to secure Alaska’s future and always stand strong for our Constitutional principles and American values. I had the honor of working on President Ronald Reagan’s White House Staff for three years, and I am convinced that Bernadette Wilson is the clear Republican choice in this race. I encourage conservatives across Alaska to join me and unite behind Bernadette’s campaign.”
Wilson said Blackwell’s endorsement carries special significance because of his decades-long role in the conservative movement and his service under President Reagan.
“It’s a true honor to earn Morton Blackwell’s endorsement,” Wilson said. “I’m humbled by the confidence he has placed in our campaign. It’s hard not to appreciate the irony. Mr. Blackwell served in President Ronald Reagan’s administration, but long before Ronald Reagan became President, he was a political outsider who had never held elected office when he ran for Governor of California. Today, Mr. Blackwell is once again putting his faith in a candidate for governor who has never held political office before.”
Wilson said she sees parallels between Reagan’s rise as an outsider candidate and her own campaign.
“I don’t take those similarities for granted, and I certainly don’t take his endorsement lightly,” she said. “His decades of leadership in the conservative movement are an inspiration to so many of us who are on the front lines of the fight for constitutional government for and by the people. It is an incredible honor to have the support of someone who has witnessed firsthand what principled, outsider leadership can accomplish.”
Wilson launched her campaign for governor in May 2025 and has campaigned as a political outsider, emphasizing constitutional government, resource development, public safety, and government accountability.
The Blackwell endorsement adds another nationally recognized conservative voice to her campaign. Wilson has previously received endorsements from Congressman Byron Donalds, several Alaska Republican district organizations, the Valley Republican Women of Alaska, and numerous individual Alaska conservatives.
Her campaign also pointed to independent polling that it says shows her leading the Republican primary field. It also cited election forecaster Race to the White House and the Cook Political Report as placing her in a strong position heading into the 2026 election.
Conservative Leadership PAC’s endorsement usually means there are massive resources coming to the candidate. Every race it endorses in, the group brings in significant money and staffing. Blackwell is the founder and president of the Leadership Institute, a 501 non-profit educational foundation that teaches political technology to conservative activists. He serves as Virginia’s national committeeman on the Republican National Committee.
The jungle primary for governor will be held Aug. 18 in Alaska. The final four out of the primary, regardless of party affiliation, will be on the November general election ballot.
3 thoughts on “Major national endorsement from conservative PAC founder boosts candidacy of Bernadette Wilson for governor”
Outsider support for a candidate you like? A O K.
Outsider support for a candidate you like? OUTSIDER SHENANIGANS
Its part of the game. AKDemocrats are just the same supported by outsiders who are pushing the Leftist cause too.
AKRepublicans and AKConservatives need to get into the game. Not to bring outsider players into the AKGOP handicaps the AKGOP and puts them at a disadvantage while Democrats are doing the same thing.
Just as long as Blackwell and Wilson understand to move the state back to the centerline and more conservative, she will have to continue taking the (painful) one inch steps right as Governor Dunleavy has accomplished doing until Alaska is centered on the political middle line before Deep cuts are made. Alaskans have been on the left side since 1990 and being government dependent too long. I think the last time Alaskans were Really independent was since the decade of the sixties and seventies and those generations have died. Very small percentage of Alaskans are truly conservatives in mind, values, and personal budget. Most Alaskans still wouldn’t understand if government spending was cut too deep except those Alaskans already living under budget and living below their income level and whose income isn’t dependent by a government job.