“When I went door to door, the message that I heard was ‘We understand that we have a budget deficit.’ And people were concerned about the economy. People were concerned about whether they would have jobs in a year and what the value of their homes would be in a year from now.”
She says she brings skills that she developed as the self-described “lone conservative” on a liberal school board.
“It learned me the art of inserting influence using data and common sense and listening and trying to find solutions that everyone could live with,” she said.
GOP spokesperson Suzanne Downing says it’s not surprising that she beat Johnson, even though he was already serving in the Legislature.
“She had a lot of money. She raised a lot money. He came in quite late. He had about 60 days to run his race. He didn’t raise a lot of money. He raised his own money. He paid for it himself.”
Johnson took nearly 30 percent of the vote. Challenger Jeff Landfield had 23 percent.
Anne Hillman is the healthy communities editor at Alaska Public Media and a host of Hometown, Alaska. Reach her at ahillman@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Anne here.
