Bipartisan coalitions pick Schrage, Giessel to lead Alaska House and Senate

Bipartisan coalitions in the Alaska House and Senate announced this week who they want leading both chambers in the next Legislature, which convenes in January, while ballots from Tuesday's election are still being counted.

The House coalition picked Anchorage Rep. Calvin Schrage, a nonpartisan, for speaker and Anchorage Republican Chuck Kopp for majority leader. It picked Sitka Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, also a nonpartisan, to chair the House Rules Committee, and Democratic Reps. Sara Hannan of Juneau, Ashley Carrick of Fairbanks and Neal Foster of Nome to co-chair the House Finance Committee.

The Senate coalition picked Anchorage Republican Cathy Giessel for Senate president and Kodiak Republican Louise Stutes, now a state representative, for majority leader. It named Anchorage Democrat Bill Wielechowski chair of the Senate Rules Committee, and Juneau Democrat Jesse Kiehl and Bryce Edgmon of Dillingham, an independent who is the current House speaker, chairs of the Senate Finance Committee.

Giessel, Stutes and Edgmon were all on Tuesday's ballot for Senate seats, and the results are unofficial. Giessel has 60% of the first-choice votes counted so far. Stutes and Edgmon lead their races on first-choice votes but don't have majorities. Wielechowski had no opponent on the ballot, and Kiehl's seat wasn't on it this year.

Stutes has 48% in a three-way race for the seat covering Kodiak, Cordova and part of the Kenai Peninsula, now held by Senate President Gary Stevens, who is retiring. Edgmon has 36% in a four-way race for the Southwest Alaska seat now held by Sen. Lyman Hoffman, who is leaving after four decades in the Legislature.

All six House picks were on Tuesday's ballot too. Schrage, Himschoot and Carrick have majorities of the first-choice votes counted so far, and Kopp and Hannan had no opponent on the ballot. Foster leads a three-way race with 48%, short of a majority.

The Division of Elections hasn't yet counted early ballots cast from the Friday before the election through Election Day, questioned ballots or absentee ballots still arriving by mail. It will run its ranked-choice tabulation Nov. 18, the deadline for overseas ballots, and plans to certify results Nov. 25.

The governor's race is also unsettled. Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins leads with 49% of the first-choice votes counted so far, short of a majority.

The new House and Senate will elect their speaker and a Senate president when the Legislature convenes in January.

According to the Legislature's guide to the process, the speaker and Senate president send bills to committees, the House and Senate Rules committees schedule bills for the floor and the House and Senate Finance committees handle the state budget.

Both leadership slates include Republicans, Democrats and members outside either party. If the candidates leading on first-choice votes win every race, the next House would have 17 Republicans, 17 Democrats and six members outside either party. The current House has 21 Republicans, 14 Democrats and five outside either party. The next Senate would have 11 Republicans, as the current Senate does, eight Democrats, one fewer than now, and Edgmon as its only independent.

Some of those leads are thin. In one Fairbanks House race with no incumbent on the ballot, nonpartisan Joy Beth Cottle leads Republican Harmony Tomaszewski by 43 votes so far.

Passing a bill takes 21 votes in the House and 11 in the Senate. Neither coalition has said how many members it will have in the next Legislature.

When the current Legislature convened in January 2025, the House elected Edgmon speaker by 21 to 19. At least three of the 21 who voted for him won't be in the next House: Edgmon and Stutes were on the ballot for Senate seats, and Anchorage Democrat Andy Josephson didn't seek reelection. The House coalition's announcement didn't include a full member list.

The Senate coalition in the current Legislature has 14 members, nine Democrats and five Republicans, according to its website. Stevens and Hoffman won't be in the next Senate. The coalition said Stutes and Edgmon will join it, that it is talking with other senators about joining and that it will release its full membership once all races are final. It made the same promise when it named its leaders for the current Legislature, the day after the 2024 election.