There is now a challenger in Alaska’s House District 1 race. Former Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly member Grant EchoHawk filed to run for the seat just ahead of the June 1 deadline. He’s running as a nonpartisan.
EchoHawk is up against Republican incumbent Jeremy Bynum, who was elected to the District 1 seat in 2024. District 1 covers Ketchikan, Metlakatla, Saxman, Wrangell, Hyder, and Coffman Cove on Prince of Wales Island.
This is EchoHawk’s second run for the State House seat, having run against Bynum in 2024. If elected, EchoHawk says he’ll vote similarly to Bynum in a lot of areas, but wanted to offer voters an alternative.
“There’s lots of different things that our vote here in House District 1 does impact, not only our district but also the statewide future,” EchoHawk said. “And so I thought it was important that our voters had a choice in those areas where I think Jeremy [Bynum] might diverge.”
EchoHawk was raised in Metlakatla and lives in Ketchikan. He served on the Borough Assembly alongside Bynum.
If elected to State House, EchoHawk said one of his top priorities will be education funding. He believes the state has not met its school funding obligations and thinks state legislators aren’t held to the same level of scrutiny as school board members. EchoHawk said that some state legislators are putting young people at a “disservice.”
“If we spent even half the amount of energy coming down on our school boards, as we did coming down on the state legislators, things might be a little different,” he said.
EchoHawk said he’s also concerned about tax breaks and tax credits on out of state and out of country corporations. He said Alaska generates a lot of wealth, and that money should stay in the state. He believes that state legislators who advocate for giving Alaska wealth to the corporations are “doing harm to our communities.”
“We need that money to better – to give us our stronger marine highway service. We need that money to fund our schools. We need that money to help small businesses,” EchoHawk said.
Alaska’s primary election is on August 18. The top four candidates in each race will advance to the general election in November.
Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.
