JUNEAU — Gov. Bill Walker on Tuesday appointed East Anchorage resident Ivy Spohnholz to replace Rep. Max Gruenberg, the Anchorage Democrat who died in office in February.
Spohnholz is in charge of fundraising for Salvation Army Alaska. Her appointment must be confirmed by a majority of House Democrats, whose leader said Tuesday that Spohnholz would likely be approved.
Walker picked Spohnholz, 43, after interviewing the three candidates submitted by Anchorage Democrats. The others were Kendra Kloster and Taylor Brelsford. Gruenberg's widow, Kayla Epstein, had applied for the seat but withdrew her name soon afterward.
Walker said in an interview Tuesday that all three were "superb" candidates, but that he came away with an appreciation for Spohnholz's personal and professional background.
"Her actions spoke loudly to me about where her heart is for Alaskans," he said, citing Spohnholz's career and her family's decision to adopt a daughter with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Rep. Chris Tuck, the House Democratic minority leader, said in an interview that Spohnholz would "most likely" be confirmed in a meeting Tuesday or Wednesday.
"We had three fantastic candidates," he said.
If confirmed, Spohnholz would become a second-generation Alaska lawmaker: Her mother, Ann, was appointed to the House by Gov. Steve Cowper in 1989, after a legal challenge to the results of a tight race between David Finkelstein and Brad Bradley.
Ann Spohnholz, also a Democrat, served three months until a new election was held.
Ivy Spohnholz said in a phone interview Tuesday that she remembered visiting her mother in Juneau during spring break — a trip that made democracy "more real and accessible," she said.
Spohnholz was motivated to apply for Gruenberg's seat in part because of what she saw in Alaska's "terrible recession" in the 1980s, which directly affected her family, she said.
Her family's mortgage went underwater when the housing market "dropped through the floor," Spohnholz said. Lawmakers are now facing predictions of similar economic calamity as they try to fix the state's $3.8 billion budget deficit, and Spohnholz said she wants to help avert a repeat of the 1980s.
"My family went from being solidly middle class, living on the Hillside, to living in an apartment in Mountain View. I've experienced very personally what this recession could mean to us," she said. "What I'd like to prevent is as many people as possible from having to go through that."
To fix the problem, Spohnholz said the Legislature needs to examine a "diverse range of revenue sources," but she wouldn't say which specific proposals she prefers when it comes to tax increases or spending earnings from the Permanent Fund.
"I need to go down and I need to read about all of the options — it would be premature to think that I have all the answers right now," she said.
Spohnholz said she hopes to arrive in Juneau Wednesday night.
She said she's not sure whether she will keep her job with the Salvation Army. But if confirmed, she plans to seek re-election later this year.
"I think that I'm looking at this for the long term," she said.
Two Republicans have filed to run for Gruenberg's old seat: Kevin Kastner and Don Hadley. A third Republican candidate, Lisa Vaught, said she plans to file to run for the seat by the end of the week.
Vaught worked as chief of staff to Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage, during this year's legislative session, but recently left her job to run for Gruenberg's seat.
Vaught ran against Tuck in 2012, with Tuck winning 54 percent to 46 percent. Gruenberg won his re-election campaign in 2014 by the same margin over Republican Don Hadley, and Vaught said in a phone interview Tuesday that she thinks the seat is winnable.