Kevin Meyer of Anchorage filed Thursday to run for Alaska's lieutenant governor, making him the second Republican state senator to enter the race.
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Meyer, who has served in the Alaska House and Senate and the Anchorage Assembly, joins Kodiak Republican state Sen. Gary Stevens as a candidate for lieutenant governor — a job that's largely ceremonial outside of its oversight of the state's election system, the state seal, the state's notary publics and any task the governor assigns.
The position was left out of the original Alaska Constitution but added as an amendment in 1970. The amendment changed the position of secretary of state in the original Constitution to lieutenant governor to clarify succession in the event of death, incapacitation or resignation of the governor.
Meyer filed paperwork formalizing his bid Thursday morning at the Anchorage office of the state Division of Elections. Not long afterward, he held a luncheon fundraiser at the Anchorage office of Enstar, the natural gas utility.
His move leaves a vacant Senate seat on the Hillside. The two Republican state House members who represent Meyer's district — Reps. Charisse Millett and Chris Birch — have both expressed interest in moving to the Senate, and Birch has already filed to run.