Okitkun files for Alaska House District 39 seat

Reynold D. Okitkun filed Tuesday as a nonpartisan candidate for Alaska State House District 39, centering his campaign on restoring fishing and subsistence rights to rural Alaska communities.

Okitkun, 60, is a community human service provider for the Lower Yukon School District, a position he has held since 2017. He has lived in Kotlik since 1967. He served as Kotlik mayor from 1996 to 1999 and spent nine years on the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association board.

"I am running non partisan to vote for what is right for our people," Okitkun said in his candidate statement. "My goals 1. Restore fishing and subsistence rights to our people."

"Your vote elects a subsistence fisherman and hunter, father and grandfather who speaks for our Yupik and Inupiaq ways of living," Okitkun said.

Okitkun's platform also includes improving public safety and addressing response times for missing and murdered Indigenous women and people, reducing fuel costs for rural communities, and collaborating with entities and governments to create jobs.

The race for District 39 includes incumbent Neal W. Foster, a Democrat who has represented the district since 2009.