Chase filing sets up Kotzebue, North Slope rematch in House District 40

Saima Chase’s filing for House District 40 sets up a 2026 rematch with Rep. Robyn Niayuq Burke Frier in a district where geography may matter as much as party.

Both candidates are Democrats. Chase is Kotzebue’s mayor, running from the Northwest Arctic side of the district. Frier is the incumbent from Utqiagvik, formerly Barrow, with a political base on the North Slope.

That regional split shaped the 2024 race.

Chase led the 2024 primary by three votes, finishing with 345 votes to Frier’s 342 and then-incumbent Thomas Baker’s 281. But the districtwide result hid a sharper borough pattern: Chase led in Northwest Arctic precincts, while Frier dominated on the North Slope.

The same pattern held in the general election. Frier won clearly after ranked-choice tabulation, finishing with 60.5% to Chase’s 39.5%. But Baker, a Kotzebue Republican appointed to the seat in 2023, took nearly a quarter of first-choice votes before he was eliminated.

That makes 2026 a cleaner test.

Without Baker on the current candidate list, the question is whether Chase can consolidate the Kotzebue and Northwest Arctic vote, and whether Frier can again produce the margins she drew from Utqiagvik, Browerville and other North Slope communities.

Turnout will matter. Northwest Arctic precincts have often voted at a higher rate than North Slope precincts, especially in primaries. In the 2024 primary, Northwest Arctic precincts turned out at 14.8%, compared with 6.5% on the North Slope. In the general election, the two sides were nearly even.

Frier enters the race with incumbency and a Juneau record. She co-chairs the House Resources Committee and has been involved in debates over Alaska LNG and oil and gas property taxes, including a proposal to increase community-impact funding for municipalities affected by pipeline construction. Her public priorities have included education, responsible resource development, subsistence, erosion, public safety and rural infrastructure.

Chase enters from local government. City records list her as Kotzebue’s mayor, with a term running to October 2028. Her path runs through the Northwest Arctic communities where she led in 2024 and through voters who may see Kotzebue’s local-government concerns as central to the district’s future.

House District 40 has one seat. The 2026 race may test which side of the district can define it.