Mike Dunleavy

Michael James Dunleavy (born May 5, 1961) is an American educator and politician serving since 2018 as the 12th governor of Alaska.

He was reelected with 50.3% of the vote, becoming the first incumbent Republican governor to be reelected since Jay Hammond in 1978 and the first governor of any political affiliation to be reelected since Tony Knowles in 1998.

After graduating from Scranton Central High School in 1979, he earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at Misericordia University in 1983.

In 1983, he moved to Alaska and his first job was at a logging camp in Southeast Alaska.

Later, Dunleavy earned his master's degree in education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

He spent nearly two decades in northwest Arctic communities working as a teacher, principal, and superintendent.

Dunleavy's wife, Rose, is from the Kobuk River Valley community of Noorvik.

They have three children, who were raised in both rural and urban Alaska.

In 2004, Dunleavy and his family moved to Wasilla, where he owned an educational consulting firm and worked on a number of statewide educational projects.

Before his election to the Alaska Senate, Dunleavy served on the Matanuska-Susitna Borough board, including two years as its president.

Dunleavy defeated incumbent state senator Linda Menard (redistricted from District G) in the District D August 28, 2012, Republican primary with 2,802 votes (57.42%).

He was unopposed in the November 6 general election and won with 11,724 votes (94.24%) against write-in candidates.

A Republican, he was a member of the Alaska Senate from 2013 to 2018.

In 2017, Dunleavy announced he would run for governor in 2018 but abandoned the race in September 2017, citing heart problems.

In December 2017 he announced his return to the race.

He defeated former U.S. senator Mark Begich in the 2018 gubernatorial election after incumbent governor Bill Walker dropped out of the race.

He was reelected in 2022.

Dunleavy was born and raised in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

He resigned his senate seat effective January 15, 2018, to focus on his campaign.

Retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel Mike Shower was chosen as his successor by Governor Bill Walker and confirmed by the Alaska Senate caucus after numerous replacement candidates were rejected.

In August 2021, Dunleavy announced his candidacy for reelection in 2022.

Dunleavy and Kevin Meyer were the Republican nominees for governor and lieutenant governor of Alaska, respectively, and were elected in the November 2018 general election.

Dunleavy was sworn in on December 3, 2018.

He appointed Kevin Clarkson to be Alaska attorney general.

On June 28, 2019, Dunleavy exercised line-item veto authority as governor to make cuts of $433 million, including a cut of $130 million (41%) of state contributions to the University of Alaska.

Also on June 28, 2019, Dunleavy vetoed $335,000 from the budget of the Alaska Supreme Court, stating that he did so because the Court had held that the state was constitutionally required to provide public funding for elective abortions.

On July 15, 2019, an effort to recall Dunleavy began after a public backlash over his cuts to public assistance, education and the University of Alaska ($135 million cut to state funding, about a 41% reduction).

It was the second recall petition against a governor in Alaska history, the first being the failed petition against Governor Wally Hickel.

Had the recall election been successful, Lieutenant Governor Kevin Meyer would have become governor.

To have the petition certified by the Division of Elections, the petitioners were first required to submit 28,501 signatures (approximately 10% of the voting population in Alaska's last general election).

On September 5, 2019, volunteers submitted 49,006 petition signatures.

On November 4, 2019, the Division of Elections declined to certify the recall petition after the Alaska attorney general Kevin Clarkson, a Dunleavy appointee, issued a legal opinion.

Clarkson acknowledged that the petitioners had submitted enough signatures and paid the necessary fees, but asserted that "the four allegations against the governor 'fail to meet any of the listed grounds for recall—neglect of duty, incompetence, or lack of fitness'".

The petitioners said they would appeal the division's decision.

In September 2020, Dunleavy agreed to reimburse the state $2,800 for allegedly partisan advertisements that were paid for with state funds.

Dunleavy did not admit to wrongdoing, but stated that it was in the best interest of the state to resolve the allegations.

On September 6, 2022, a complaint was filed against Dunleavy alleging that his campaign was paying staffers with state funds.

In 2023, one of Dunleavy's advisors, Jeremy Cubas, resigned after inflammatory statements he made on his podcast became common knowledge.

In January 2020, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth rejected the division's decision not to certify the recall petition.

The state appealed Aarseth's ruling to the Alaska Supreme Court, which on May 8 affirmed that the recall effort could proceed.