State employee drops candidacy for Southeast seat in Legislature

Robb Arnold has withdrawn his candidacy to represent Ketchikan, Wrangell and Metlakatla in the state House.

Arnold wrote in a statement to the Ketchikan Daily News on Thursday, Feb. 1, that he had ended his campaign.

Under state law, Arnold could not continue in his job as a chief purser for the Alaska Marine Highway System and run for state office for the same time. It appears he was unaware of the law when he announced for the Legislature in December to challenge incumbent Rep. Dan Ortiz in District 1.

Alaska statute says that, with some exceptions, a state employee “who seeks nomination or becomes a candidate for state or national elective political office shall immediately resign any position held in the state service.”

Representatives of the state Division of Elections and Department of Law both confirmed that the statute would apply to Arnold as an employee of the state ferry system.

The Division of Elections does not check whether candidates are state employees, and candidate filing materials do not indicate that state employees may need to check with their supervisors before declaring their candidacy, according to Lauri Wilson, supervisor for the division’s elections office in Juneau.

Arnold announced his resignation as a candidate for the state Legislature after learning of the law from the Ketchikan Daily News.

Arnold, a Ketchikan resident, ran unsuccessfully for the school board in 2022 and 2023 and for the city council in Ketchikan in 2023.