The primary election for the Alaska House of Representatives is more than nine months away and already five-term incumbent Rep. Dan Ortiz has at least two challengers for the District 1 seat that represents Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla.
Robb Arnold, a chief purser aboard the state ferries who ran unsuccessfully for the Ketchikan city council and Ketchikan school board last year, has filed for the state House.
Arnold is running as a Republican, as is fellow Republican Jeremy Bynum, who serves on the Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly. Both filed in December.
Bynum, who works as electric division manager for Ketchikan Public Utilities, lost to Ortiz in 2022, 47.3% to 52.4%.
Ortiz, first elected in 2014, serves as an independent. He retired after 30 years as a high school teacher. For his last eight years at Ketchikan High School, he was coach for the drama, debate and forensics team.
Grant EchoHawk, also on the Ketchikan borough assembly, has filed a letter of intent to run for the seat and anticipates formally declaring his candidacy next month.
Under the state’s ranked-choice voting system, all of the candidates will run together in the August primary election — there are no more political party primaries in Alaska — with the top four vote-getters advancing to the November general election.
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