Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche files to run again

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche filed to run for the office again.

Micciche submitted his Letter of Intent to the Alaska Public Offices Commission on Wednesday. The filing lists the office as Mayor, the 2026 Kenai Peninsula Borough election. That registers a campaign with the state; the borough's own candidate filing period closing on Aug. 31, before the Nov. 3 election.

Micciche is among the more established figures in Kenai Peninsula politics. He was a Soldotna City Council member and then mayor of Soldotna from 2008 to 2013, before serving a decade in the Alaska State Senate as a Republican representing District O, where he rose to Senate majority leader and, from 2021 to 2023, Senate President — the chamber's top post. He left the Senate to win a February 2023 special election for borough mayor, succeeding Charlie Pierce, then won a full term in 2024. His background outside office is in the energy sector, where he worked up to LNG superintendent, and as a commercial salmon drift-gillnet fisherman.

The borough's mayor page says his proposed FY26 budget lowered the property tax mill rate from 4.24 mills to 3.85 mills, describing the plan as giving "relief to taxpayers."

The same page sets out his case on schools: without more state money, borough taxpayers would pay more toward the district than the state does by 2027 if the borough kept funding to the cap. The district's FY26 budget says the borough "could provide additional funding based on the additional revenue from the State of Alaska."