Let’s reject hyper-partisanship: Vote for an independent

I have been a proud independent my entire political life. I ran for Congress as an independent in 2018, and it’s how I’m running now.

With no public notice, the Division of Elections made a last-minute change to the 2020 ballot format to hide the fact that I am an independent. As in 2018, I ran first through the Democratic primary so I would have a head-to-head general election against the incumbent, Don Young. On the 2018 ballot, I was properly listed as an independent — not a member of any party — as well as the nominee of the Democratic Party, which together accurately described my candidacy. On the 2020 ballot, however, I will be listed only as the nominee of the Democratic Party, erasing my status as a nonpartisan independent. Not only does this misconstrue who I am as an individual, it leaves voters to misinterpret that I am a member of the Democratic Party.

I sued to stop the use of ballots that violate state law. Unfortunately, even though the court found that I had a strong case that the ballots were improper, the Division of Elections had withheld the ballots from public knowledge long enough so that, according to the Division, there was not enough time to correct the improper ballots without putting the election at risk (I’ll note the fact that the Division has since reprinted thousands of ballots to follow the law for other candidates).

I registered as an independent 15 years ago when, like many Alaskans, I reached a breaking point with the hyper-partisanship disabling our elected officials. I saw them making decisions to please party bosses and ignoring the needs of the people they were elected to serve. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was joining 56% of Alaskan voters who choose not to be members of any political party. I knew partisanship was wrong for me, but I had no political aspirations myself.

Shortly thereafter, I started advocating for Alaska’s public schools. As a mom of four watching budget cuts eliminate shop classes, counselors, vocational training and more, I knew I had to do something. Because that is what moms do when there’s a problem: We find solutions for our families.

I brought together like-minded folk and grew the group from 40 parents, grandparents and community members to more than 4,000 statewide to fight for Alaska families. We called ourselves Great Alaska Schools and managed to save $200 million in cuts to our children’s schools over 5 years. We held the line on education funding, making sure legislators in Juneau and Washington, D.C., were thinking about our children when making decisions.

And though we did it in a nonpartisan way with no party affiliation, I still saw how partisanship was degrading our government and its ability to deliver results. The success of every child depends on the health and wholeness of their family, which means good jobs first and affordable health care: things our leaders are failing to deliver because they’re too busy fighting over which party gets credit for it.

I saw how lawmakers opened their doors to special interests and big donors but closed them to everyday working families. So, I stepped up and ran for Congress to open those doors so ordinary Alaskans like me can have a say in our government.

My opponent has been in office a long time: 47 years in Congress alone. And he is very much a creature of that hyper-partisan swamp that has brought our country to a halt. So much so that the only thing he seems to be running on is the most tired message for an incumbent, “She’s a member of the other party, so she’s bad!”

Unfortunately, Don Young has lost his clout along with his backbone, which means Alaskans are in need of a representative delivering for us. I feel called to serve our state to bring home the good jobs, infrastructure and lower health care costs our families need. My independence puts me in a position to deliver for Alaska families, not corporate donors.

I will continue to fight for better representation for Alaskans all across our state on this campaign, and I invite you to join me. Our country, our state, and our children deserve it.

Alyse Galvin is an independent candidate for Alaska’s U.S. House seat. She is a founder of Great Alaska Schools.

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