Ten residents from Chugiak-Eagle River are looking to represent the area on the Anchorage Assembly for roughly 90 days.
Assembly member Jamie Allard had represented the area since 2020, but she vacated her seat when she was sworn in to the Alaska House of Representatives this week. The deadline for residents to file to fill her seat was Tuesday.
The ten people who applied are David Syzdek, Ken McCarty, Brian Baldwin, Matt Cruickshank, Jason Thomas, Arthur Isham, Scott Myers, Gerald Romig, Robin Dern and Jim Arlington.
Syzdek works in IT for Alaska Communications. McCarty is a former state representative who served from 2021 to this year. Baldwin is an Air Force reservist and community volunteer. Cruickshank is a facility manager with the State Department of Transportation. Thomas is an attorney who’s practiced municipal law across the state. Isham is an Army veteran and retired project manager who’s worked with the state. Myers is a realtor. Romig is an engineer with the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Dern is a community advocate who’s worked extensively with the Anti-Defamation League. And Arlington is a business and marketing director with Afognak Native Corporation.
The Anchorage Assembly will interview the candidates during a special meeting Thursday morning and will then vote on who will fill Allard’s seat. Whoever is selected will serve until the April municipal election. Since Allard was up for reelection this year, whoever wins that election will fill a full three-year term.
Of the 10 candidates, just Myers and Cruickshank have filed paperwork indicating they’re running for the full term.
Allard’s seat is the second and final the Assembly had to fill this month. About two weeks ago, Assembly members picked Joey Sweet to fill Forrest Dunbar’s Assembly seat. Dunbar was elected to the state Senate.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the last names of Scott Myers and Robin Dern.
Wesley Early covers Anchorage life and city politics for Alaska Public Media. Reach him at wearly@alaskapublic.org and follow him on X at @wesley_early. Read more about Wesley here.
