October 19, 2018 — Every major candidate in every Alaska gubernatorial, US Senate or House election since 1991 — and in quite a few state legislative races, too — has met on the stage in Kodiak to debate issues related to the state’s commercial fishing industry.
They never miss it, such is the importance of fishing to the state of Alaska.
But Mike Dunleavy won’t be at the Gerald C. Wilson Auditorium this Monday to square off against his two main political combatants in the latest race for governor, independent incumbent Bill Walker and Democratic candidate Mark Begich.
Instead, the 57-year-old Republican, former state senator and educational consultant — who has been leading the 2018 race for governor of the state by a wide margin in all recent polls — will be “visiting with Alaskans in Barrow,” a town more than 1,200 miles away in the northern part of the state, his staff reportedly informed the debate organizers this week.
The decision serves to further confound the fishing captains, seafood processors and many laborers in Alaska’s massive commercial fishing industry just three weeks before they’ll join other Alaskans in voting booths. They’re struggling to learn more about what their next likely governor might do on such issues of consequence as the proposed Pebble Mine and trade with China.