Alaska U.S. House Rep. Nick Begich III has a new challenger.
Bill Hill, a Bristol Bay fisherman and retired teacher and school administrator, filed to run for the congressional seat as an independent candidate.
He cites the late Alaska Congressman Don Young as an inspiration.
“That's kind of who I hope to, in some respect, mold myself after,” he said. “What's good for Alaskans first and, you know, we need to start putting distance between politicians that are just cozying up to billionaires and special interests. And we need people that are going to work for Alaskans.”
A day after launching, Hill’s campaign announced he’d raised $200,000.
Hill has retained the campaign consulting firm Ship Creek Group, the same agency that brought early success for Mary Peltola when she launched her bid for U.S. House in the 2022 special primary election.
If elected, Hill isn’t committing to joining either the Republican or the Democratic House caucuses.
“I think that decision needs to be done thoughtfully, and that needs to be done at the appropriate time with whatever the structure of Congress looks like at that time,” he said.
Public records show he made small donations last year, through the ActBlue platform, to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and larger ones to Democrat Les Gara for his campaign in 2022 for Alaska governor.
Hill is Athabaskan, raised on Lake Iliamna and now lives in Naknek. He worked as a teacher in Naknek and Juneau, an administrator in the Lake and Peninsula School District and as superintendent of the Bristol Bay district. He’s also lived in Fairbanks and worked in construction jobs and ran a small business.
Begich, a freshman Republican, has raised more than $2 million for his re-election campaign. Democrat Matt Schultz, a Presbyterian minister from Anchorage, is also campaigning for the seat. He hasn’t had to file a fundraising report yet.
