On Wednesday, the Republican leadership got one of its own as speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives for the first time in six years when the chamber voted 26-14 for GOP state Rep. Cathy Tilton on the second day of the session. Hardline Gov. Mike Dunleavy may still struggle to have his way, though, because the state Senate formed a bipartisan majority coalition shortly after Election Day.
Tilton’s win came after more than two months of uncertainty about whether the state House would continue to be controlled by a cross-party coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Republicans last November won 21 seats—theoretically enough for a bare majority. One of those, however, belongs to former House Speaker Louise Stutes, the leader of the last coalition, while another is represented by David Eastman, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers who many fellow Republicans don’t want to associate with. Democrats hold another 13 constituencies, while six independents represent the balance.
The impasse was broken Wednesday when Tilton prevailed with the support of all 21 Republicans as well as two Democrats and a trio of independents, but she says that this vote doesn’t precisely show who will or won’t be part of the new ruling coalition. The speaker declared that while her group currently does not include either Stutes or Eastman, it contains the two Democrats and two independents from the Bush Caucus who represent the vast rural seats in the Bush regions that are home to large Alaska Native electorates.
Three Bush Caucus members, Democrat Neal Foster and independents Bryce Edgmon and Josiah Patkotak, backed Tilton along with independent Dan Ortiz, while Bush Caucus Democrat C.J. McCormick did not. Another Democrat, Andy Story, did support her, but Tilton said afterwards that McCormick rather than Story would be in the new GOP-led majority. Ortiz also said that while he was interested in joining Tilton’s coalition, “it remains to be seen” what he’d end up doing. Edgmon also affirmed things were in flux and the new majority group was “a work in progress.”
Members of the Bush Caucus in the past have backed whichever majority existed in large part so they could secure state resources for their constituents. Indeed, Edgmon himself supported the GOP caucus as a Democrat before he himself became speaker of a new crossparty majority following the 2016 elections: Edgmon became an independent two years later as part of the very complex negotiations that secured him another term as speaker, though Stutes was in charge during the coalition’s final two years of existence.
Eastman, who was not invited to join the group, was unhappy with how things went down on Wednesday despite his vote for Tilton. The four-term member, who has never been part of a ruling majority, instead wondered, “How would it be a Republican caucus if it’s got Democrats in it?”
