By SUZANNE DOWNING
April 1, 2026 – Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche had some fun on KSRM radio today, announcing he was running for governor. It was an April Fools prank, and a pretty good one, at that. It had more than a few people fooled. My phone blew up for a bit after he was on the air.
Micciche is a former state senator, former Senate president, and someone whose name has floated around as a potential candidate. For a moment, it sounded plausible and that’s what made it so hilarious.
But the prank also highlights something very real about Alaska’s 2026 governor’s race: We are rapidly approaching the point where anyone just now getting in should be disqualified on judgment alone.
There are 59 days left to file. That’s it. And already, roughly 19 candidates are in the race. Only two even have lieutenant governor running mates, while the rest are still assembling teams, testing messages, and in some cases, apparently deciding whether they even want to stay in the race at all.
Anyone announcing in at this late stage isn’t demonstrating boldness or leadership so much as they are demonstrating ego. Hubris. Conceit. And a lack of basic judgment.
Running for governor requires organization, fundraising, message discipline, ballot access planning, and, under Alaska’s new ranked-choice system, some kind of actual path to victory. If you’re still “thinking about it” in April, you’re simply auditioning for attention.
Or worse, you’re entering as a spoiler.
Wally Hickel had enormous name ID when he ran in 1966, and even then he only pulled it off because of a Republican primary structure. When he reemerged in 1990, he didn’t build a late campaign but instead inherited an existing ballot slot through the Alaskan Independence Party after the primary, when John Lindauer and Jerry Ward stepped back.
Today’s ranked-choice reality is far messier.
With 19 candidates already, (and only two candidates right now have running mates, so the rest are still in the aspirational mode), at least 10 of them would not break 1% in August’s primary. That means the vast majority of the vote will be split among five or six candidates. In a ranked-choice jungle primary, you would not need much to advance to the final four at the general.
No one is likely to get 25% with so many in the race. Therefore, no one is going to get to the final four with any kind of mandate. Thanks, ranked-choice voting; this is exactly what it meant to deliver: A mess.
If you have the first-place candidate at 25%, the second at 22%, there would be a scramble for the remaining slots. The third-place finisher might land somewhere around 15 %. After that, the math gets thin — very thin, with remaining candidates fighting over scraps. The difference between fourth place and eighth place could be just a few percentage points, a few hundred votes.
Therefore, someone could make the final four ballot with barely 8–10 percent support. That’s worthy of a participation trophy.
And yet, with 17 candidates still needing lieutenant governor running mates at this stage, we’re apparently still in the “why not me?” phase of the campaign. The filing deadline is June 1. That’s 59 days. Some are thinking about throwing their names in this month, while serious campaigns are already built and running.
Serious candidates understand the math. Late entrants only divide votes, confuse voters, make the ballot that much longer, and increase the odds that someone advances to the final four with no meaningful support. This is all the inevitable result of Alaska’s jungle primary brought by ranked-choice voting, the system that rewards fragmentation and mediocrity. The system that encourages vanity campaigns.
The later you enter, the more obvious it becomes that you’re not running to win. You’re running to be noticed.
Micciche’s April Fools announcement worked because it was self-aware. It was a joke. Everyone knew it. We all got a good laugh.
But April Fools is one day. Let’s not stretch it into a whole month.
Suzanne Downing is founder and editor of The Alaska Story and is a longtime Alaskan.
One thought on “Suzanne Downing: April Fools is one day. Let’s not stretch it out to a whole month”
Baby boomers, GenX, and GenY have always had BIG egos and Bigger insecurities
Baby boomers is trying to make their lives count for something
GenX is trying to prove themselves
GenY/millennials tries so hard to be noticed, recognized, and appreciated.
Only from these three generations will they be remembered to had packed a Governors race all for their Ego. How many Republicans jumper in BECAUSE OF Bernedette announced her candidacy , the AKGOP leadership is embarrassing themselves.
(Except Bernedette- she was the First Republican to declare her candidacy and Shower was good enough to step down into Lt Governor position which I think Shower would shine as Lt Governor who’d oversee the Division of Election since he harps on election integrity and transparency for last six years. What better person to oversee it than someone who genuinely cares about Alaska’s election integrity.)