The Alaska Senate will be led by a new 13-member Republican majority, its members announced Sunday. The act likely boosts Republican Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy’s base of support in the Alaska Legislature.
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Sen. Cathy Giessel of Anchorage will be the new Senate president, replacing Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, who was defeated by Rep. Scott Kawasaki, D-Fairbanks, in the general election.
The Senate’s remaining Republicans had delayed announcing their organizational structure until Kawasaki’s victory was confirmed Friday with the counting of additional absentee ballots.
The new 13-member majority includes all of the Republicans in the 20-member Senate, marking a change from last year when two Matanuska-Susitna Borough Republican senators left the majority due to differences over the budget.
Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, will serve as the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, and Sen. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, will serve as Senate majority leader.
Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, and Sen. Natasha Von Imhof, R-Anchorage, will serve as co-chairs of the Senate Finance Committee.
Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, will be chairman of the Legislative Council, which conducts the Legislature’s business out of session.
Other committee assignments are pending, said Rena Miller, a spokeswoman for the Senate majority.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, announced they had chosen Sen. Tom Begich of Anchorage as minority leader. The group includes six members and has invited a seventh Democrat, Lyman Hoffman of Bethel, according to a written statement issued Sunday night. The Democrats had wanted a bipartisan “caucus of the whole” with the Republicans, the statement said.
Miller, the Republican caucus spokeswoman, said the new majority’s priorities are the budget, public safety and protecting the Permanent Fund and the Permanent Fund dividend. Miller said the new majority will be working together to hammer out specifics to accomplish those goals.
No independents serve in the Senate, but there are seven Democrats. In the last Legislature, Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, served as a member of the Senate majority; he is not listed among its ranks this time.
In the House, 21 Republicans have announced the creation of a majority caucus, but one of those 21, Bart LeBon, leads his Democratic opponent, Kathryn Dodge, by only five votes. A final counting of ballots is scheduled for Wednesday. The result is likely to be recounted regardless of the outcome.