Opportunity for Democrats in Alaska and Montana?

Pundits’ bleary eyes may focus on the Pacific Northwest and Alaska this November in the national slugfest for control of Congress. If Democrats win, they could wrestle the nation’s agenda from the small hands and outsized ego of President Donald Trump. 

An A-list House race appeared this week on political radar screens with news that U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, is calling it quits. A big swath of the Big Sky state is in play. Zinke served as U.S. Interior Secretary in the first Trump Administration, blocking sale of public lands but wanting to kill just about every creature that lives on them. Also this week, Senator Steve Daines at the very last minute — literally — announced he wouldn’t run for re-election.

Zinke represents western Montana, stirring country scenery plus an interesting populace. Its electorate embraces a liberal college town, Missoula, along with conservative Kalispell-Whitefish and trendy Bozeman, a college town. It’s one spot in America where reintroduction of grizzly bears and wolves will be on minds of voters. A quartet of Democratic contenders for Zinke’s seat will draw attention as far distant as The New York Times. 

There is also a hot House race locally. In Washington state, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez, a moderate-conservative Democrat (political species on the endangered list) will seek to hold her seat. She represents Republican-trending Southwest Washington, far from the land of “Seattle liberals.” Already, GOP challenger State Sen. Jon Braun is papering the district with press releases.

In Montana, a Republican donnybrook shapes up in Zinke’s western Montana district. Four Democrats are vying for Zinke’s seat, which he won by just four points in 2024. A three-way race shapes up among Republicans, in a state that lately has trended GOP. Zinke has endorsed Dr. Al Olszewski, a former state senator. Aaron Flint, a loud radio talk host, is in the running, as is Montana Secretary of State Cristi Jacobsen.

In Alaska, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, has hooked a front-rank challenger, fisheries expert, popular, ex-U.S. Rep.Mary Peltola, to take on Alaska’s GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan. He’s a Harvard man, forever overshadowed by seatmate Lisa Murkowski, herself the smart offspring of former Alaska Sen. Frank Murkowski. Alaska is a “red” state, even if its climate turns voters blue. The state enjoys a fiesty, libertarian streak and quirky, ranked-ballot voting system. Peltola has already touched down in Seattle on a fundraising foray.

Alaska offers a fascinating electorate. It enjoys a big native population. Residents of Wrangell and Ketchikan favor chopping down living cathedrals of the Tongass National Forest. There are a scattering of progressive outposts — capital Juneau and Gustavus, close by Glacier Bay.

Alaska voters could tip the balance for U.S. Senate control. Pain from the Trump cuts to Medicaid are being felt in the bush. Murkowski has cobbled together a coalition that includes Republicans, Democrats, independents, and natives — much like the coalition that runs the Alaska Legislature.

Greenies may grumble at Peltola’s advocacy for oil drilling in the fast-warming Arctic, but her election would empower such environmental voices as Washington’s Sen. Maria Cantwell. A Democratic victory in Montana could, similarly, tip the balance in the House, where Republicans hold a tenuous 218-214 edge.

“All politics is local,” our late House Speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill famously said. It is so, even in a domain as vast as Alaska, For instance, Trump wants to flip the name of North America’s highest peak from Denali (the Great One) back to Mt. McKinley, not a popular proposition. Nor is putting a big open-pit copper and gold mine between two of Bristol Bay’s prime salmon spawning streams — another dubious Trump stance.

This article also appears in Cascadia Advocate.