The Democratic Party announced that the person who won Anchorage’s Democratic House District 13 primary has withdrawn and that they have appointed someone new. The party announced that Kay Rollison will replace Hal Gazaway in the Muldoon neighborhood Thursday.
The replacement for Hal Gazaway kicked off her campaign at El Rodeo Restaurant in the Muldoon Neighborhood. Surrounded by tortilla-chip laden tables she explained why she’s running.
“Well, I’m running because, unfortunately, Hal stepped down. And I didn’t vote for Gabrielle LeDoux the last time and I don’t want to vote for her this time,” Rollison said.
61-year-old Kay Rollison says she came to Alaska from her home state of South Carolina in 1975 to work in the construction industry. She started out working on the pipeline in Fairbanks where she was employed by the culinary hotel and restaurant union. In 2006 she ran for Lieutenant Governor and lost. Over the years, she’s worked in labor management and contracting in the construction industry, specializing in civil rights and affirmative action. She says her work experience will be useful if voters send her to Juneau.
“I worked on the pipeline for unions, for construction companies. I moved from that into a consulting business. Worked for construction projects kind of as a liaison between the different contractors, state, fed, native corporations, locals,” Rollison said.
If she’s elected, Rollison says she’ll focus on making sure Muldoon gets funding from the state to pay for the infrastructure needed as the nearby base and the neighborhood expand. She says she’s pro-choice, supports gay rights and dislikes the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United ruling. The Democratic Party released a statement from Gazaway saying he couldn’t comply with candidate disclosure rules without compromising some of his clients’ attorney-client confidentiality, as the reason he withdrew. Gazaway was unopposed in Tuesday’s primary and won with 360 votes. Republican Candidate Gabrielle LeDoux, also was unopposed and won with 574 votes. Rollison will face LaDoux in the General Election November 6.
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.
Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.
Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.
Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
