Dillingham forum puts two open Southwest Alaska legislative seats on one stage

Southwest Alaska voters are choosing successors to two of the Legislature's most experienced rural lawmakers, and the candidates for both open seats will share a Dillingham stage Sept. 29.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman is leaving Senate District S after four decades in the Legislature. House Speaker Bryce Edgmon is giving up the House District 37 seat he has held since 2007 to run for Hoffman's Senate seat, creating a second open race below it.

That makes the Bristol Bay Votes Coalition forum more than a campaign calendar item. It is one of the few public chances for voters across Bristol Bay to compare the people seeking both offices.

Edgmon enters the four-person Senate race with the clearest institutional advantage. The undeclared candidate from Dillingham has served nearly 20 years in the House and led it as speaker from 2017 through 2020 and again during the current Legislature. He says that seniority would help preserve rural influence after Hoffman's departure.

His opponents bring different kinds of local experience. Darren Morgan Deacon, a Republican from Upper Kalskag, is a communications installer and tribal chief whose campaign emphasizes a full Permanent Fund dividend and hunting and fishing rights. Alaska News profiled Deacon when he filed in May.

Wassilie "WG" Guy, a Democrat from Napaskiak, identifies himself as an Alaska Native village corporation board member and has centered subsistence, tribal consultation and federal trust responsibilities in his campaign responses. Richard "Rick" Robb, a nonpartisan candidate from Bethel, is a licensed professional counselor who served nine years on the Bethel City Council, including four as mayor.

The coalition's Senate questionnaire shows real differences beneath the shared rural priorities. Edgmon points to legislative seniority and existing state programs. Guy emphasizes tribal authority and subsistence. Robb proposes a household heating-fuel payment and a ban on trawling in state waters. Deacon did not answer the questionnaire.

The House race has no incumbent and no comparably dominant figure.

Mark Smith, a nonpartisan candidate from Aleknagik, is a former mayor and city council member with a long career in maritime transportation and commercial fishing. Democrat Evelynn Trefon of Newhalen is a school secretary, small-business owner and Yugtun language revitalization coordinator who previously served on the Newhalen City Council.

Republican Brenda Wilson of King Cove is a city council member, social worker and chemical dependency counselor who has also served on tribal, borough and school boards. Nonpartisan candidate Cade Woods of Dillingham manages a fuel terminal, operates freight and fishing vessels, and chairs the Dillingham Planning Commission.

The candidates' written responses put education funding, fisheries, energy costs, housing, public safety and tribal-state relations at the center of the House contest.

The Division of Elections lists four certified candidates in each race. The forum's promotional graphic lists Edgmon, Guy and Robb for Senate District S, but not Deacon. It lists all four House candidates. The public event record does not explain whether Deacon declined to participate or was omitted for another reason.

The forum runs from 6 to 8:30 pm Sept. 29 at the Dillingham High School gym during the Bristol Bay Sustainability Summit. The coalition says it will stream the event on Zoom and Facebook, with live radio coverage on KUCB and KYUK. Voters may also submit questions in advance through the event page.