The field of candidates for Alaska governor grew to four last week after Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries filed a letter of intent saying she’s considering a run for governor.
The letter allows her to start raising money for her campaign. DeVries, a Republican, said in an interview on Thursday she’s “90 to 95% sure” she’ll file to actually run.
DeVries turns 84 next month and has a long history in the state. She moved to Palmer in 1969. In the years since, DeVries said she’s spent more than 30 years working in real estate and has also worked in postsecondary education and job training programs.
She was a state senator in the mid-1980s and more recently served as the mayor of Palmer. She’s been mayor of the Mat-Su Borough since 2021.
DeVries said she believes in limited government and is a supporter of large Permanent Fund dividends in line with a decades-old formula.
"The state has to live within its means, and I know that's going to be shrinking, probably, the size of government that we have in the state of Alaska," she said.
Paying a full statutory dividend would require drastic cuts to state services or raising vast amounts of new revenue. Lawmakers haven’t approved a formula dividend since oil prices crashed in the mid-2010s and the state started relying on the Permanent Fund to pay for state services.
DeVries said she’d like to examine reports by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s first budget chief, Donna Arduin, for ideas on how to cut back state spending.
DeVries also echoes some of Dunleavy’s priorities when it comes to education. She says she’s proud of the work her borough has done expanding charter schools in the Mat-Su. And she says she wants to see schools held accountable for poor performance.
"The biggest decision right there is, how do we continue to fund (education), but also get the accountability and the results that we want?" she said.
DeVries said she's been a "Trumper" since President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. Like the president, she said she’d like to expand resource development in the state.
"I appreciate him loving Alaska and speaking out on behalf of Alaska, in comparison to what challenges we've had in the last four years regarding developing our resources," she said.
DeVries also lists "election integrity" as a top priority, saying she's proud that her borough has moved to hand-count ballots in local elections.
DeVries joins an all-Republican field for the 2026 governor’s race. Candidates include Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, former Sen. Click Bishop and businesswoman Bernadette Wilson. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is in the second-to-last year of his second term and cannot run for another.
