Former state senator Lesil McGuire files for Alaska governor

Former state senator Lesil McGuire filed a Letter of Intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission on May 29 to run for Alaska governor in 2026, then filed jointly with running mate Elizabeth Rexford by the state's June 1 deadline for a governor and lieutenant governor ticket.

McGuire served 16 years in the Legislature, six years in the Alaska State House from 2001 to 2007 followed by ten years in the Alaska State Senate from 2007 to 2017. She chaired Senate Rules and co-chaired the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission, building a record on energy and resource development before leaving the Senate in 2017. In 2024, she chaired No on 2, the campaign that defeated repeal of Alaska's open primary and ranked-choice voting system by 664 votes.

The 2026 race will be Alaska's second gubernatorial election under ranked-choice voting, following the system's adoption in 2020. Incumbent Governor Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and cannot seek a third consecutive term.

By Monday evening the Alaska Division of Elections listed 17 governor and lieutenant governor tickets for the 2026 primary, some certified and some pending. The certified tickets were Tom Begich and Julia Hnilicka, Click Bishop and Greta Schuerch, Dave Bronson and Josh Church, Edna DeVries and George Hightower, Meda DeWitt and Christopher Steere, Shelley Hughes and Blake Gettys, Hank Kroll and Tommy Nicholson, and James "JP4" Parkin and Ramadhani "Ram" Greer. The pending tickets were Matt Claman and Sarah Skeel, Adam Crum and Bob Craig, Matt Heilala and Jesse Sumner, Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and Zac Johnson, Lesil McGuire and Elizabeth Rexford, Destry Payne and Cliff Silvers, Treg Taylor and Candi English, Bill Walker and Randy Hoffbeck, and Bernadette Wilson and Michael Shower.

The 2026 primary is scheduled for August 18, 2026. The top four vote-getters in the nonpartisan primary advance to the November 3, 2026 general election, where voters rank candidates.