Challengers in Eagle River Senate race question incumbent’s conservative values

EAGLE RIVER, Alaska (KTUU) - In one of Alaska’s few contested primary races, three of the four state Senate candidates challenging Sen. Kelly Merrick in the Eagle River race say the incumbent is not conservative enough to represent the traditionally red district anymore.

Merrick was elected to the Alaska Senate in 2022 and is running on a campaign of no new taxes, fiscal conservatism, and investments in public safety and resource development.

“I have the most experience, and I have a vision for Alaska that’s going to bring good jobs and strong schools, safe streets,” Merrick said.

However, her Republican challengers — Jared Goecker, Sharon Jackson, and Ken McCarty — feel that Merrick’s views and her votes are two different things.

Goecker, 30, was a member of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s transition team in 2018, and has run campaigns for conservative candidates in the past.

Goecker says he is frustrated since Merrick was elected that she has aligned herself with a Senate bipartisan majority. Even though the majority comprises Republicans and Democrats, Goecker feels the majority is leaning more progressive than conservative.

“She ran as a conservative. She ran as a Republican. She got down to Juneau and immediately joined a Democrat-dominated majority, and they’ve been pushing some, you know, some bad things, right? They’ve blocked some good things coming from the House. They’ve been an inhibitor of getting things across the finish line in the Senate, and we need to bring a change to that,” Goecker said.

Fellow Republican challenger and retired Army veteran Sharon Jackson echoed Goecker and pointed out that Merrick voted in favor of Senate Bill 88. The legislation would have established a defined benefits retirement system for public employees and teachers. Conservative-leaning members in the Senate and House opposed the bill, which passed the Senate but ended up stalling in the House.

“That bill was passed by the Senate with no fiscal note to it,” Jackson said. “That is how much that bill will cost our state. That was like writing a blank check, and I believe that’s a perfect example.”

Clarifying and correcting Jackson’s statement, Merrick said the bill did pass the Senate with a fiscal note attached to it.

But before the recent session ended, Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, supported by House Minority members and Senate Senate Majority members asked House lawmakers to discharge the bill from the House State Affairs Committee. In response, Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, who sits on State Affairs, said the bill was being held up because members didn’t have the full financial picture for the legislation. At the time Johnson said the committee was waiting on reports from actuaries detailing how much a pension system would actually cost the state.

The third Republican challenger and former Eagle River representative Ken McCarty, who lost to Merrick in 2022 for the Senate seat, said he was disappointed that Merrick did not support conservative-leaning members in upholding the governor’s veto of the comprehensive education package, SB 140.

The governor called the package just a spending bill that did nothing to improve educational outcomes, such as improving the state’s charter school system.

McCarty is also concerned about the size of the PFD coming out of Juneau, as the Senate Majority advocated for a smaller PFD compared to the more conservative-leaning House Majority.

“Start securing the permanent fund for the people, as it had been for 30 years, and being part of the group that’s altering that and putting the investment of that to other purposes,” McCarty said. “Now, the Permanent Fund was for running up government, but there is appropriations or arrangements for the people to get the dividend, and that’s not been honored.”

Twenty-eight-year-old Democratic challenger Lee Hammermeister, who considers himself a moderate, says he also supports a full-story PFD, which he feels gives him an advantage over Merrick.

“Conservatives want to get to a full PFD by cutting expenses, and traditional Democrats don’t want a full PFD at all. I propose a middle ground of try to go for a full PFD by adding additional revenues to make up the difference and balance the budget, " Hammermeister said.

Merrick points out to her challengers and voters that both representatives from Eagle River — Rep. Dan Saddler and Rep. Jamie Allard — supported the budget with the $1,700 permanent fund dividend and SB 140 before the governor vetoed it.

She said there was widespread bipartisan support for both in the House and Senate.

“I’m a lifelong Republican, and I think if you go and you look at my record and the votes I’ve taken, they stand with the Republican platform,” Merrick said. “Because I work with people across the aisle doesn’t mean I’m a Democrat. Alaska has a long history of coalitions. Ted Stevens and Congressman [Don] Young worked with across the aisle all the time. They did what was right for Alaska, not what was right for a political party.”

The Republican challengers in the race all said that if elected, it’s tough to say if they would join the Senate Majority the way it is currently configured and would explore the option of creating and joining a conservative-leaning Senate minority whose values would be more aligned with the House Majority.

“I would love to see the Senate Republicans come together and have a conversation how to best reorganize so that the Republican Alaskan values are most represented, as long as it’s led by the Republicans and the voices and principles of the conservative values are represented,” Jackson said.

The 62-year-old retired Army veteran who has invested a lot of her own money in the race points to her record as a former state representative and constituent liaison for U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, representing conservative values.

“I would like us to be more responsible in our state spending. Alaska is not broke. We have a financial management problem with us being more responsible with the funds of our state,” Jackson said. “The number one issue is the economy, the inflation. Families are struggling to make ends meet. I would like to help. We can do that in many ways. Let’s increase state revenues. Let’s give a statutory PFD. Let’s give families choice on education and how their children can excel in their education.”

McCarty, who has invested a lot of his own money in the campaign, says building Alaska’s economy is also important to him.

“I think we’re in a challenging situation these days with the economy, the price of housing, the price of food, the price of just existing, and is the state of Alaska listening to the people and trying to help the people,” McCarty said.

Goecker, whose campaign is receiving wide Republican support, says public safety is an important issue for him.

“I want to take on criminal justice reform. We’ve got such a broken system, and you know, there’s an article a few weeks ago that last year, they released up to 35 people indicted for murder or homicide with bail as low as zero dollars,” Goecker said. “That’s completely unacceptable, and Eagle River knows that. Eagle River values tough on crime.”

Even though he is a Democrat, Hammermeister — who has raised little money and has no signs, but does have a social media campaign — says he feels he has a good chance in the race because of ranked-choice voting and his connection to the community.

“I think I’m moderate enough that I can appeal to both parties, reason being — I am EagleExit board member, and a lot of conservatives support that effort, but I also have thousands of hours of volunteer community service here in Eagle River on our local road board ... I don’t think that’s a claim that any other candidate in this race can make,” Hammermeister said.

The Democrat says his campaign platform focuses on improving public health and snow removal services for Eagle River.

Merrick, whose campaign has raised the most money, including donations from Juneau Central Labor Council and ASEA Local 52, says she just wants to see an honest and decent campaign. She said politics has become more partisan in recent years.

“I did have signs stolen and vandalized last cycle, but nothing like it is now,” Merrick said. “Over 50 signs were stolen and being spray painted and cut down. So that’s kind of disheartening, because I think people in Chugiak-Eagle River are better than that.”

District 24 chair Clayton Trotter said in a letter that the District 24 Republicans “condemn negative and misleading statements and campaign materials.”

The primary election is on Tuesday, and the top four will advance to the general election. However, Goecker says he will drop out of the race if he doesn’t place in the top two.

“So what I’ve said from the very beginning is that this race is about beating Kelly Merrick, and now there’s a couple other conservatives that are in the race that I think are good people,” Goecker said. “I’m going to get behind whoever has the best chance of beating Kelly Merrick, because we have to beat her.”

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