Alaska Public Media, Alaska's News Source, and KTOO present Debate for the State: Governor's Race.

Good evening.

Thank you for joining us for Debate for the State, for Alaska's next governor.

We're coming to you live from Alaska Public Media and simulcasting on statewide TV, radio and online.

I'm Lori Townsend, tonight's moderator.

My colleagues, Eric Stone, Alaska Public Medias state government reporter, and Wil Courtney, political reporter for Alaska's News Source, will ask the questions.

The four candidates with us this evening are former Anchorage Mayor Republican Dave Bronson, former state lawmaker, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, former Alaska Attorney General, Republican Treg Taylor, and Alaska business owner Republican Bernadette Wilson.

We will not have opening statements from the candidates, however, they will have one minute for closing comments.

The order was determined earlier by drawing numbers from a hat.

All answers will be timed with the yellow light indicating you have 10s left, and the red light followed by a ding means you're out of time.

Answers will range from 45 seconds to 1 minute, and lightning round questions will allow up to 15 seconds for answers.

Candidates will also have the option of up to two rebuttals of 30s each, if they wish to respond after another candidates answer.

We'd also like to hear from you, our audience rank the issues that matter most to you.

If you're watching on TV or online, scan the QR code on your screen or go to alaskapublic.org/poll and that will take you to a live poll.

That's alaskapublic.org/poll.

Now let's get started.

The first question is about the state's long term fiscal plan.

Candidates, you will have one minute to answer and Eric Stone will ask the question.

Candidates, for about a decade, Alaska's state revenue has fallen short of its expenses.

The deficit, if you include a statutory dividend, is about $2 billion.

That's a third of this year's overall budget.

We've seen cuts to state services and the permanent fund dividend and deteriorating state facilities in schools.

How would you make state revenue meet expenses?

You'll have one minute, starting with Mr.

Bronson.

Great.

Eric.

Thank you.

We've been.

This problem has been brewing for decades, if not generations.

We do not have enough revenue.

That is the problem.

But where that revenue comes is the real issue.

We have stifled development on the North Slope.

We have stifled development of our natural resources, our mining districts.

We haven't built the roads to our mining districts, and that's why we're in this predicament.

Certainly back in the 2006 and thereafter, we grew government greatly.

So we created demand, demand on that shrinking pot of money.

So to fix that, undo what we did, we got a right size government.

Certainly we've got to audit our departments and find out where they're wasting.

But more so on the revenue side, we need to stimulate stimulate private industry to develop our resources for us.

We need to create a tax structure that they can live with so we can develop our oil, develop our natural gas, develop our minerals and get this thing moving forward.

This isn't going to be fixed overnight.

It just isn't.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Bronson.

Next we'll move to Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

I am pro math when it comes to the budget, and I've been really frustrated over the last eight years that this governor has failed to deliver to the legislature a single balanced budget, not 1 in 8 years.

And Alaska deserves a governor who will deliver to the legislature on the constitutional December 15th deadline a budget that is balanced and that is my commitment as governor.

Broadly speaking, I want to protect the Permanent Fund from being overspent, and there's been real risk over the last decade to start spending down the permanent fund.

It's it's starting to go after the golden goose itself.

And I also believe we need to raise reasonable revenues.

I have been very public that I think Hilcorp needs to join its other and gas peers, Conoco, Exxon and Santos, and paying corporate income tax.

I think if the state can start to bring in reasonable revenues like that, we can work towards a balanced budget.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

Next, we'll move to Mr.

Taylor.

Yeah.

As your governor, I commit to a balanced budget.

One of the things we can't do is we can't tax our way to prosperity.

And you heard JKT just talk about taxing.

You know, in earlier panels and debates that we've had, he's talked about an income tax, a sales tax, a tax on on on on on.

A tax on internet sales, for example.

What we can't do is we can't tax our way to prosperity in order to fix our our budget issues, we've got to grow our economy.

That's what you do.

You grow your tax base and you can't tax your tax, increase taxes on your tax base because that shut down development.

We saw that with ACES, right?

ACES tax.

It brought a huge amount of revenue into the state.

But what happened was it basically borrowed from our future because there was no new development on the North Slope.

So you can't just raise taxes and an Alaskan family can't sustain additional taxes.

So the answer to our problem is to use the vast resources God blessed us with and grow our economy, and that way that grows our tax base.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

And finally, we'll move to Miss Miss Wilson.

Yeah, absolutely.

So on the topic of the state budget, the first thing I'll say is this.

As governor, I can tell you that under this administration, we are going to be bringing back a state of the budget address.

This used to be done decades ago in Alaska.

We are going to bring it back roughly 30 days before the state of the state address.

The days of slipping a budget under the door in the dead of the night, and legislators owning the narrative on your finances end with this administration, that state of the budget address will indeed be delivered.

On the topic of the budget, there are several things that we need to do.

We need to come in and we need to audit.

We need to see where exactly are we spending the money, where can we find efficiencies?

What can we automate?

We need to change how we budget.

Whether we look at a five year rolling average, zero based budgeting, we need to talk about implementing a legitimate spending cap in Alaska.

We need to talk about how we manage our permanent fund.

Even when the permanent fund hit a record, you know, 85 now is worth roughly $90 billion.

It still operates at a fraction of the SNP.

Yes, we need to grow our economy, but we have got to have all of those conversations.

Thank you Miss Wilson.

Candidates.

The permanent fund dividend amount is always a rebuttal.

All right.

You have 30s.

So on on the subject of taxes responding to to Mr.

Taylor's comments.

Number one, I stand by the the rationale that Hilcorp should pay corporate income tax.

I view it as a matter of fairness.

ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, good corporate citizens in Alaska every year pay corporate income taxes into the state treasury.

And the fact that one of our other major oil and gas producers does not is simply an unfair playing field.

It's like if you're paying property tax on your house and your neighbor down the street isn't.

There's no world in which that's fair.

I think that is a very reasonable revenue source for Alaskans to expect.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

The permanent fund dividend amount is always a battle in the legislature.

Paying a statutory dividend would drain the state savings accounts and start to eat into the permanent fund as well, within about two years.

How would you stop the annual debate that often ties up the budget until the last day of session?

You have 45 seconds to answer.

We start with Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

I want to broker a bigger picture of fiscal compromise that puts to bed the questions that have bedeviled Alaska for the last 10 or 20 years, including my time in Juneau.

And the solution, I think, requires protecting the permanent fund from overspending with a constitutional protection from overspending, which is legislation I introduced as a legislator.

I also want to make sure that we have a dividend that is fiscally sustainable.

That can be around 25 years now, from now, 50 years from now.

And if we pay a $4,000 dividend this year, there will be no dividend in 20 years or 30 years.

So I think we need to consider a new, more realistic but sustainable dividend that will be around in the long term for Alaska and Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins, a 30s follow up as well.

Many Alaskans feel that politicians are stealing from the dividend by not getting a statutory formula dividend.

How do you respond to those Alaskans?

I think the dividend is a good program, and I support it, and I want it to be around in the long term and the math of the budget.

And I'm pro math and I want to be fiscally realistic and fiscally responsible, is that if we pay a $4,000 dividend, the only way that that dividend is going to get paid for is that you are spending down the permanent fund itself, and the moment you start doing that, there will be no permanent fund and there will be no permanent fund dividend decades from now.

And I will not make shortsighted decisions like that as governor.

All right, Mr.

Taylor, how would you stop the annual debate?

Your 45 seconds?

Yeah.

No.

You know, there was a time when Alaska didn't have this annual debate down in the legislature about the amount of the PFD.

And if you remember, that's because our economy was booming.

That's the answer to getting the PFD back to where we where Alaskan families need it, right?

Alaskan families are hurting, and they know better how to use those funds than the government does.

I am a firm believer that families are going to learn.

They're going to pay down mortgage costs.

They're going to pay for health care costs, they're going to pay for energy costs.

And so we need to get as much money into the hands of Alaskan families as possible.

We do that by growing our economy.

And in a 30s follow up for you to Mr.

Taylor, do you think the statutory formula should be followed, even if it leads to the permit fund beginning to be drained?

No, I think we've got to come.

I think what we need to do is we need to implement.

We need to have a constitutional amendment.

That constitutionalizes our PFD payment.

It's got to be based on rational mathematics.

It's got to be based on the amount of oil revenue coming down the pipeline.

And and I think we can come to a compromise where we can constitutionalize that the PFD so that Alaskan families know they can count on it.

Know to budget for it and in that way move our Alaskan families forward.

All right.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

And Miss Wilson, how would you stop the annual debate over the permanent fund dividend?

Yeah.

So the first thing I'll say is, you know, JKT says he is pro math.

Now, if we would have paid out a statutory permanent fund dividend, it would cost the state roughly 2.3 billion.

But JKT, you've been very public about supporting a return to defined benefit, which actually would cost the state a little more than $7 billion.

So I am tired, quite frankly, of hearing legislators say that we can't afford to pay out a permanent fund dividend when out of the other side of their mouth.

They have passed every single spending package that comes across their desk.

Here's the deal.

Follow the formula.

If the money isn't there, then follow the formula.

You were never guaranteed a $3,800 permanent fund dividend, so pay out $25.

Pay out $50.

The reality is, the money is there.

They want to use it as a slush fund elsewhere.

And then as a 30s follow up to you all, just ask again, how would you stop the annual debate, especially if you plan on introducing a statutory formula?

Yeah, absolutely.

So I think I've got a great solution to this.

Let's do this.

Legislators say that they're doing what their districts wants.

Let's make it so that every year we give Alaskans a statutory permanent fund dividend.

And under this administration, when you apply for your permanent fund dividend right there with click give, we will list every single state agency and how much legislators want to spend, wish they could have spent had they not paid out a statutory permanent fund dividend.

And let's let Alaskans decide if and how much money they want to allocate back.

If you want to take your permanent fund and give all of it back to the general fund, let's do it.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Finally, Mr.

Bronson, how would you stop the annual debate?

Well, the truth of the matter is, you're not going to stop the annual debate because we're arguing over a limited resource.

Maybe only in Alaska can the far left and the right agree on this.

I do believe that the solution to the problem mathematically, is that the is that the permanent fund needs to grow and grow up to from about 91 today to about 150, maybe $120 billion.

And then we can, at that point in the future, pay a full PFD in function completely government.

The math is this.

So a full PFD is $2.4 billion every year.

The total payroll for all state employees is $1.2 billion.

That said, you can cut every last employee and you're at one half of one years full PFD.

It doesn't work.

And let me just give you a quick 30s follow up as well.

You say that the annual debate won't stop, presumably under your administration.

How do you plan on going forward with the permanent fun dividend under your administration?

Well, you you grow you grow the permanent fund to the point where it can help fund it.

That's the only mechanism that's big enough to get us out of this, that in developing our natural resources on the revenue side.

That's it.

We have messed this up for so long, so many, so many decades that now we're at this point where we're facing a point where, like Jonathan says, the math doesn't work anymore.

Thank you sir.

Schools across the state have increased class sizes, cut programs and closed their doors.

Meanwhile, Alaska's students lag near the bottom of national rankings.

How would you approach education in a way that's sustainable into the future?

You have 45 seconds for this question, and we'll start with Mr.

Taylor.

You know, my wife and I have been married 27 years.

We have six kids, and they've all taken a different educational path based upon their individual personalities.

So educational outcomes are a huge deal for my wife and I, and we've been heavily involved in that for a long time.

One of the things is we got to stop solely focusing on the amount that we spend on education.

That's the that's the political football in Juneau.

Every year we got to start focusing our our our legislative talk and discussions around outcomes.

And the reality is we know it works, right?

We've seen states go from in just a matter of years, from bottom of the pack to top of the rankings in the United States, Mississippi, for example, they passed what's called the Reads act.

We passed the Reads act two, but unfortunately, we pulled out accountability provisions, which means it's just a strong suggestion for our for our school districts.

And a 30s follow up for you, sir.

Yep.

Would you support a large increase in education funding if it meant more funding also for charter schools, for schools and other choice options like that?

Look, that conversation, I want to fund education to where we're going to be successful.

But again, we've got to start talking about outcomes, and we need to figure out how to get more money to teachers.

When one my wife graduated from Dimond High School in Anchorage, teachers were being paid 175% of the national average.

Right now, we're at average or below average in Alaska, so we've got to get more funds to the teachers, more funds into the classrooms, and we got to start focusing on the basics of education.

That's why putting the accountability provisions back in the Reads act is absolutely necessary to move this state forward.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor and Miss Wilson.

We'll go back to the main question.

How would you approach education in a way that's sustainable into the future?

45 seconds.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I'll start with this.

First of all, I am tired of hearing, you know, a request for increased funding numbers that are completely arbitrary before any number gets put in front of this administration, you sure as heck better be able to tell me what results we're going to get for that.

If you're going to tell me how many schools you can open up, how much you can reduce class size, that's great.

But I want to know for results.

What are we going to get?

We are 48, 49, 51st and fourth and eighth grade reading and math.

Here's the deal.

We need to end the discrimination in the income inequality that is happening in education right now.

We are forcing kids into a one size fits all system, even though we know it's failing them, because that's the area of town they live, because that's where their family can afford a home.

Under this administration, we are going to work to make sure that we are using the latest and greatest AI technology to make sure that every single kid has an individualized learning plan.

Miss Wilson, a 30s follow up for you as well.

Similar to Mr.

Taylor, schools are able to take care of take advantage of economies of scale because they have many students in one place.

So would you.

Would you support spending more on education in order to offer this sort of more personalized and more customized approach to education that you talked about?

Again, if based off of what results can we get for it?

So you tell me what results can we get.

And then we'll talk about that.

But to spend more money without saying, if you're going to put a number in front of me, then I want to know, are we going to improve our our scores by 10%?

Are we going to be in the top 100 districts in the country?

What are we going to get for that amount of money?

The minute that that question gets answered, you will have my attention on that.

But until then, end the discrimination and the income inequality.

And let's get these kids individualized learning plans for every single one of them.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Next.

Mr.

Bronson, how would you approach education in a way that sustainable into the future?

Well, we we simply confound too often and even in this question, the notion of education funding in the actual education itself, we're we're rock bottom of all the states and fourth and eighth grade reading math.

We are and we shouldn't be there.

In the 70s, we were at the top of the list.

Our problem is, is not only for the funding of education.

Certainly, I have committed to March 1st in the budget process, make sure the school funding for all the school districts is locked in, and then we can go on a debate, all the other issues.

But the question I have is the quality of education.

What are we?

What are we educating?

We're indoctrinating in our public schools.

We're not educating more.

We need to teach our kids how to think, not what to think.

And certainly when we teach them at times what to think, it's got to be traditional American values.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

And as a 30s follow up as well, how would your administration help students learn how to think rather than what to think?

Well, it's a traditional liberal arts education.

It's the education system and the theology of our education or philosophy, I should say, of our education that put a man on the moon, that was that educated the greatest generation, that that did all the great things that we've accomplished in this country.

We're rock bottom amongst many of the Western nations, and we're certainly in Alaska doing terrible compared to the other 49 states.

At the end of the day, we know how to do this.

We've done it.

We've made a great country based on a great public education system that no longer exists.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

And finally, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

How would you approach education in a way that's sustainable into the future?

I do not subscribe to the theory of education that the beatings will stop when morale improves and Alaska public education has taken an absolute beating in the last eight years under this governor, through funding cuts and neglect of our public schools.

If I'm governor, I'm going to fully fund education.

I'm going to forward fund education.

So school districts don't have to guess how much money they're going to have and fire teachers and then rehire them a couple of months later and going to give teachers a retirement.

So they actually have a future in the profession and are incented to stay in the classroom.

Whereas right now teachers are fleeing Alaska for other states where they have a future in the profession that they love.

I think Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins and a quick follow up for you as well.

30s why should Alaskans believe that more funding or forward funding, better retirement packages for teachers, the things you describe.

Why should Alaskans believe that they will result in better performance for students?

I think any parent, any teacher is is seeing that every day in the classroom.

When you've got a teacher in South High School who's got 200 total kids, a class across all of his classes, it's just crowd management.

There's there's no ability to actually invest in the education of kids.

I think we also want to have a constant improvement sort of mindset in our public schools.

You can have both at the same time, provide adequate funding so teachers aren't managing crowds and also constantly drive for excellence in the classroom.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins A reminder that we want to hear from you, the audience rank the issues that matter the most to you.

Find the poll at alaskapublic.org/poll.

That's alaskapublic.org/poll.

Or for those watching on TV or online, scan the QR code on your screen.

It will take you to a live poll.

We asked Alaskans to send us questions for the debate, and they responded with a range of nuanced questions.

First up, here is Michael Ladouceur from Fairbanks.

That's across the board.

How do you feel about having a statewide penchant for state workers?

All right.

Thanks to Michael for that question.

And his question was, do you support a statewide pension for worker or a penchant for statewide workers?

You'll have 45 seconds for this answer, starting with Miss Wilson.

Yes, absolutely.

So here's the thing.

We just talked about this a little bit earlier today.

If you go to a back to a return to defined benefit, the estimate from the reason foundation is that it would cost the state more than $7 billion.

So at the same time that we're telling Alaskans that we can't afford their permanent fund dividend, at the same time that we have this phony sales pitch that they need new taxes.

I think the answer there is pretty clear.

The state cannot afford the $7 billion.

Here's the other thing.

I'll point out that when you have a workforce that is leaving, we have nothing to show that that is directly related to a defined benefit plan, as some would claim.

And so it doesn't show us that there is a link there.

We see this across the country that we're having a problem retaining people in those certain areas.

But the other thing is this if you did pass a return to defined benefit, no one can tell us how much it would actually improve.

Thank you, Miss Wilson, Mr.

Bronson.

Well, we're currently in debt for the previous defined benefit plan to to the tune of $7.1 billion.

We cannot add another $7 billion to that.

That to the issue.

Does it actually retain our teachers or our public employees?

The answer is not clear whatsoever.

It is one of many factors.

People leave the state for a lot of reasons.

And I had the largest police department, the largest fire department in the in the state working for me, and we would do exit polling every time someone would leave.

And it was crystal clear that the defined benefit plan was not the issue that made the difference.

Difference.

It was a lot of different factors.

I don't like the whether my wife wants to go home to be with parents.

My husband got another job someplace else.

Those are the issues that caused people to leave.

So until we get those questions answered, we don't want to encumber the taxpayer with another $7 billion.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

Mr.. Kreiss-Tomkins, do you support a statewide pension plan?

I do, and I think we owe it to our teachers, our state troopers, our other public employees.

And I stand by my position as the pro math candidate in the race and the actuarial modeling on the bipartisan legislation that passed out of Juneau this year and that went to the governor's desk only to be vetoed, showed that it would have no net liability to the state over the long term.

And it is true that past defined benefit plans have created a liability for the state and are not responsible, and I would not support those.

But this legislation, which has been highly vetted in Juneau, is actuarially and mathematically responsible, would not create an unfunded liability, would promote increased retention, which any state employee will tell you.

Any teacher will tell you.

And I would support it.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins, Mr.

Taylor.

Statewide pension.

No, I'm not in favor of a statewide pension.

I'll tell you why.

Every pension system that's ever gone into existence was supported by actual actuarial modeling.

Right.

And and they've all failed every place.

This has been tried.

It's resulted in the state being underwater.

The other reason I don't like pensions is it traps the estate employees.

They have to stay in their job because they want to have a retirement.

And my mother was a schoolteacher, and I watched her as she went from one school district to next use, lose years on her retirement, have to work additional years just because she transferred from one school district to another.

You know, there was a study done, one of the two of the biggest barriers to generational wealth are pension systems and renting.

We got to do better for our our our employees.

401 K is a great place to start.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Candidates, gas supplies in Cook Inlet are likely to fall short of demand during the next governor's term or shortly thereafter.

If the long sought after gas line is built, it would likely come too late to alleviate the short term crunch.

How would you address this impending crisis?

You have 45 seconds to answer this question, starting with you, Mr.

Bronson.

Well, this pending crisis or this pending gas shortage in the Cook Inlet, the numbers of this, there's 19 trillion cubic feet of gas and the 3 trillion we use about 70 billion a year.

The thing that we've got to focus on is more drilling, more wells in the base in the interim, until we get a 42 inch gas line, we hope in the future that's the solution.

We need another jack up rig, because the one rig that we have out there now is doing 30, 32, maybe 33 a year.

We need another rig in the inlet and that will solve the problem for the intermediate future.

Long term future certainly is a 42 inch gas line from the north slope.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins, you have 45 seconds.

I support in all of the above energy strategy for Alaska, whether it's the rail belt or it's rural Alaska in the short term for the rail belt, we have to incent maximum production out of the Cook Inlet basin.

And there are two independent companies, Hex and Blue Crest, that are doing great work.

Hilcorp has been highly entrepreneurial in the basin, and I think it is appropriate for the state to do as it is currently doing and offer royalty relief to those producers from 12.5% to 3% royalty rate as an incentive to maximize production.

I think there's a promising drilling season coming up that can help bridge the gap, but in the bigger picture, in the medium and long term, we have to diversify energy sources on the rail belt.

And that means natural gas.

That also means hydro, that means wind, that means solar.

That means anything that pencils, that gives us a secure energy future.

Mr.. Kreiss-Tomkins.

Mr.

Taylor, how do you plan on addressing this crisis?

The difference between prosperity and decline is often measured in cents per kilowatt hour.

So we've got to do better.

We are a state that can power a continent, yet we're having trouble powering the rail belt.

We've got to think big.

That is why the Alaska gas line is so important for Alaska.

$54 billion investment in our future.

I fully support it.

But until then, there is gas in the Cook Inlet.

The problem is the capital cost for producing that that gas is not justifiable based upon the limited customer base along the rail belt.

And so state has to incentivize gas production and exploration in the Cook Inlet.

And we can do that through tax breaks and, and help the, the the equations pencil out for these businesses.

We've got some great companies out there in the Cook Inlet that want to produce the gas that Alaskans need.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Finally, Miss Wilson, you have 45 seconds.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we do have gas and Cook Inlet, and we do need to incentivize so that we're not in the situation that we're in.

But the reality is this the reason that we're having an energy crisis in Alaska, the reason we have one of the highest costs of energy is because we've been a terrible business partner to our oil and gas industries.

We are the reason that we have higher cost of doing business here.

The minute that someone turns around, Hilcorp came in and saved our bacon.

We turn around and JKT wants to jack up their taxes.

We don't exactly have a whole lot of people lining up to build a gas line.

I absolutely support a gas line.

I'm very proud of the work that our congressional delegation, along with our president, has done for a gas line.

And I can tell you under this administration, we are going to continue that work.

JKT signed a letter to Nancy Pelosi saying that he wanted to get to 100% renewable.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Following the devastation from Typhoon Halong, Governor Mike Dunleavy indicated that natural disasters like these may just be part of Alaska's future, a part of regular life here.

How will you make sure that Alaskans are safe from these increasingly dangerous storms?

You'll have 45 seconds to answer this question.

We'll start with Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

I think it comes to intergovernmental cooperation.

And sadly, I think we should expect more of these kinds of natural disasters, whether in western Alaska or elsewhere.

In my part of Alaska and Southeast Alaska, we've seen several fatal landslides, one of which killed one of my high school classmates.

And the state needs to up its game and have more of a response capacity.

I think lessons learned from Typhoon Halong as well as Typhoon Mirvac is the state has to have pre wired coordination with the federal government, whether that's military, FEMA, but also tribal partners, especially in rural Alaska.

And the state should invest in sort of scenario planning, disaster response so that when disasters actually strike, the state is ready.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

Mr.

Taylor, same question to you.

Yeah, I think the answer is you've got to be able to work with the communities Preplan have have a preplan for what you're going to do and these things happen.

Look like life.

There's calamities in life wherever you live.

If you're not in Alaska, you're California, there's earthquakes.

There's other things that happen.

Right?

So we just got to be prepared.

You know, our National Guard and our emergency response as a state has been is been pretty excellent.

We do a great job.

So we got to keep supporting those efforts, keep funding those efforts.

And then I think the next part is is about food security.

You know, we are cut off from the world in the event of a major earthquake, right?

And so we need to have the food resources here.

We need to grow more food resources here so that Alaskan families have something on the table.

In the event that we're waiting for aid from the lower 48, in event of a major, major disaster.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Miss Wilson.

Yes.

Well, first of all, shout out to all of our National Guard members across the state that do an incredible job protecting us.

They do.

They've done an incredible job when it comes to recovery throughout any number of disasters that Alaska has had.

Absolutely.

We need to get into the communities.

We need to work with the different tribal governments and get more involved with them.

We absolutely need to work with the federal government so that we can make sure that we are better prepared to address those situations on the ground, so that we can make sure that in the event that they do strike, that we are getting people back into their homes as quickly as possible, that we're avoiding the disruption that comes with kids that have been pulled out of school and pulled out of their communities, because we know inevitably these disasters are going to keep happening.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Bronson.

Well, first, I want to compliment Governor Dunleavy and his administration for how they handled Halong.

It was a terrible storm for a lot of people, and nearly over 2000 of those folks wound up in Anchorage for a short period of time, or sometimes a long period of time as they tried to survive that that episode, the Department of Military Affairs, the the the Air National Guard, the Alaska National Guard.

I'm a lieutenant colonel, retired out of the Alaska Air National Guard.

That is a great organization.

Both of them, the Army and the Air National Guard.

They were prepared.

And the focus is is to make sure the experts in those organizations have the resources, have the funding to do what they need to do.

It's being prepared for the emergency because you can't stop the emergency from coming.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Bronson.

Pollock is Alaska's largest fishery by volume.

Many Alaska fishermen say the industry is responsible for excessive salmon bycatch.

Would this be a priority of your administration, and if so, how would you address it?

You have one minute to answer.

And we begin with Mr.

Taylor.

Yeah.

You know, my fish policy is Alaskan fish belong to Alaskans first, right?

And and because this issue has been so contentious, I've not taken any money from the trawling industry.

And it's it's, it's that just makes any decision that I make that people know that I'm trying to put Alaskans first with those decisions.

You know, what we can't have is we can't allow the destruction of habitat one, we can't allow one user group to benefit at the detriment of all other user groups.

So those are kind of my policy perspective.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to put Alaskans on representing us or recommend to the Secretary of Commerce Alaskans that are going to put Alaska first.

And with deference to all user groups, protecting all user groups, not just commercial fishermen.

And that's in the North Pacific Fisheries Council, right?

We we we control that council.

We have a majority of the seats on that.

And so we should be if we act with one voice, we can always what is right for Alaska, not simply what Washington and Oregon want to happen in Alaskan waters with Alaskan fish.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Miss Wilson, you have one minute.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we very much need to have a conversation in this state about, for example, the amendment 80 fleets that are dragging the bottom of the ocean floor.

These are the very large vessels, of course, most of them based out of Seattle.

We need to make sure that midwater trawlers are indeed fishing midwater.

We need to talk about putting observers on boats and having more accountability when it comes to that conversation.

I can tell you that as governor, I'm going to make the I have made the commitment several times throughout this campaign to make sure that as we are appointing to board a fish, as we're appointing to all these different organizations that have a say there.

My commitment to you is to make sure that these are individuals that do not have a conflict of interest, to make sure that we do indeed have equal representation across all of the different industries.

That may very well mean that on the board of fish, we we need to expand the number of seats that we have.

This is a critical issue for Alaska that has been far too long.

Very much overlooked.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Bronson, would excessive salmon bycatch be a priority of your administration, and how would you plan to address it?

If so?

Well, it's a high priority to this campaign.

It's in it's a priori will be a high priority in in my administration.

I've taken a lead on this for many months on the issue of trawling.

I came out early and says I won't take money from from the trawlers and I haven't and at the the issue of the day is, is this is that we simply take too many fish and we certainly waste too many fish.

We drag the bottom with our nets.

Even the midwater trawlers say they don't.

They?

They're saying 4 to 8%.

It's actually sometimes 80 to 90% that they're dragging the bottom.

We're damaging an ecosystem that's absolutely essential to our fish culture.

At the end of the day, we're losing our culture upriver because we're taking too many fish, whether it's bycatch or whatever, in saltwater.

And there's environmental impacts, sure, that come in water temperatures.

But now the indications of the water temperatures are cooling and we may be getting more fish, but we've got to control we've got to push the buttons that we can push at this time to limit the take on the high seas, so that the folks in the rivers get their share of fish.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

Mr.. Kreiss-Tomkins, you have one minute.

I was in the Kuskokwim river this last weekend, and it's it's heartbreaking to to spend time.

I was in Akiak, Akiachak and Kwethluk and talk with folks in villages who rely on a subsistence way of life to not have access to salmon.

And bycatch is a factor.

Changing ocean conditions is a factor.

But the fact of the matter is, the state needs to prioritize the resource for Alaska residents and Alaska communities.

And as a legislator, and I think is probably the only candidate in this race, I would regularly attend North Pacific Council meetings.

I would regularly advocate for reduced bycatch of Chinook and chum and halibut.

I authored multiple sign on letters to reduce Chinook chum and halibut bycatch caps.

I authored multiple ADN OP eds.

I have a record I'm proud of in bycatch reduction.

I've walked the walk, and if I'm elected as governor, that will be the policy of the state of Alaska to reduce bycatch and prioritize Alaska's fisheries resources for Alaskans and Alaska communities.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

Let's hear another question from Alaskans.

This is from Anchorage Youth Vote.

Hello.

My name is David Pak.

I'm a student at Polaris K-12 and I'm also part of Anchorage Youth Vote.

Today my question is, what are your top three plans to keep young people in the state?

All right, candidates, you will have 45 seconds to answer the youth vote question, starting with you, Miss Wilson.

Yeah, absolutely.

So I can tell you this right out, right.

In the high school level, we need to bring back our vocational schools and our technical schools so that when kids are graduating right out of high school, you already have the basic skills that are there and that are necessary.

At the collegiate level we need to be investing in our programs where we know we are driving, where we're going to need the workforce.

When you look at our additional education programs, I've talked a lot about, for example, the CDL program here in Alaska, one that's very near and dear to my heart.

Right now, if a child wants to get it right now, if a student wants to go get their CDL, they have to wait months to get into a school.

Then they have to spend weeks there.

Sometimes it's costing 10, $15,000 depending on where they're at.

So we need to be talking about how we're going to provide these vocational and educational opportunities, how we can get infrastructure and development so that we have the state where you want to live.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Bronson, you have 45 seconds.

Well, as our students choose what they want to do, whether it be in the trades, which are absolutely critical and small fortunes will be made in the trades in the future because they're so valuable.

We need we need to focus our education on getting kids into the trades, not just in the college, but the important thing, the reason we know they're not coming back is they can't afford to live here.

And that's a lot of that is imposed by government because of government, government interruption into the into the, into business.

Greater taxation of business drives people out of the state because it drives up the cost of greater taxation drives, drives up the cost of living.

So people can't afford to come back.

We need to drive down the cost of homes and we need to create more jobs, good paying jobs, good union trade, journeyman level jobs.

If we do that, I think we will get through this quite well.

Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins 45 seconds.

Cost of living is is front of mind for me.

And I think most of all for for people of my generation, for people younger than my generation, it's housing.

And right now you've got a basically win a lottery to be able to afford a home in Alaska.

And we need to unleash a housing building boom across the state.

Houses of all kinds, apartment buildings, single family homes, trailers, prefab modular accessory dwelling units, you name it.

More houses everywhere, faster.

And that increased supply will drive down the cost.

I think we've got to address childcare.

Another similar problem where there's not enough childcare to go around the scarcity drives cost.

And lastly, economic opportunity support entrepreneurs support new businesses in Alaska.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor 45 seconds.

No, I appreciate that.

No.

David's question gets at the heart of why I'm running for governor.

I'm running for governor to make the changes necessary for Alaska to reach its full potential, and to give our kids and grandkids the opportunity to build their lives here.

And and he's absolutely right.

We're losing a lot Alaskan families.

We're using our losing our young folks.

So we need to do two, three things real quickly.

One, we need align our K through 12 education with the workforce needs that Alaska has.

Right.

There is no reason why you should not be able to graduate from high school and enter immediately into the workforce, making a living good wage.

The other thing is we need to get our economy moving again.

We do that by accessing the vast resources that God has blessed us state with.

And then we got to bring the cost of living down.

And the big lever that we can pull on cost of living is affordable, reliable energy.

Thank you.

Candidates.

Let's check in on what viewers and listeners are listening as their top priorities in our live poll.

If you haven't taken that poll yet, please do so.

To take it, go to alaskapublic.org/poll.

That's alaskapublic.org/poll.

Or if you're watching on TV or online, scan the QR code on your screen.

And it looks like what we have so far is 40% of respondents are listing education as their first priority, and there's a 23% for the economy and 20 and 23% for climate change.

So that's where we're at right now.

Candidates.

We've entered an era where the other side is not only wrong, but evil.

How do you personally perceive the other side, and how would you work to show Alaskans that compromise is possible?

You'll have 45 seconds to answer.

We'll start with you, Mr.

Bronson.

Well, throughout this campaign, I look at this.

I have no enemies, I have.

I've come to like Jonathan very much.

We've spent a lot of time together on this campaign trail, had sat down and had coffee a couple of times together.

I think this is an example of how we can work together across the aisle, because there's a big divide between Jonathan, I, I'm, I'm a man of the right, and he's definitely a man of the left, but we can work together.

And I look forward in Juneau to going down and working with the 50-50 legislature.

I didn't have that at the Assembly.

I had a ten two against me or a nine three against me.

But, you know, we still got things done.

We agreed about 70% of the times.

We still paved our roads, we still built the things we needed to build, and we got things done.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

Mr.. Kreiss-Tomkins, I, I think compromise is a virtue and not a dirty word.

And part of the reason Juneau has become so dysfunctional is the inability to work across party lines and compromise.

And I have a lot of respect for a Dave, we can respectfully disagree on issues, and we can respect each other as people and as fellows, Alaskans.

And that's very much my mindset in in public service.

And if I'm governor and as an example of respectful disagreement, I'd say I'm a man of the middle, perhaps, but but we can maybe agree to disagree on that as well.

But but ultimately, I think we need that that climate of civility in Juneau, where people can disagree agreeably.

And I think if we can restore that climate, a civility and compromise, we can solve some of the big problems facing Alaska.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

Mr.

Taylor, you have 45 seconds.

Yeah.

This isnt a philosophical answer for me because I've done it during the four and a half years that I was the attorney general, I successfully worked across the aisle.

We successfully passed legislation to hold drug dealers responsible for drug overdose.

They now get a sentence of murder, charge of murder.

And it all comes down to treating people with dignity and respect, and then also focusing on what you have in common.

We probably agree on 70% about what how how to move Alaska forward.

Let's focus on that.

Build up some trust with each other.

And I'll also point out I worked successfully so well with the Democrats and the lower 48 that were attorneys general, that PBS did a special about us, because they were amazed that we were able to work things done to work together with each other and get things done on behalf of our States.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Finally, Miss Wilson, how do you perceive the other side and how do you work to show that compromise as possible?

All right, well, apparently this is a question everyone's going to brag about how well they can sing Kumbaya with each other.

But here's the deal.

How is that worked for you?

We've been told that we need to just go have another cup of coffee, or we need to go have another cocktail together.

You've had bipartisan coalitions and the House and in the Senate.

How has that worked for you?

Alaska?

Are you any better off today than you were ten, 20, or 30 years ago?

We can talk about bipartisan coalitions, and JKT can talk about how he's going to build a coalition that's Republican and Democrat.

Here's the reality.

He sponsored on the record, a state income tax said that it was one of the most important votes that he ever took as a legislature.

He signed a letter to Nancy Pelosi saying, we need to go to 100% renewables.

Coffee and cocktails isn't going to do it.

Miss Wilson, I'm gonna I'm going to take a rebuttal on that if I can.

30s.

Okay.

We haven't been going down there and singing Kumbaya.

That's the point.

The governor and the legislature have not been getting along down there.

And Jonathan and I, opposite sides of the political spectrum, agree, you still need to go down there and work with the other.

Everyone's tired of this fighting and this screaming and hollering at each other, as am I. You've got to go down there and guess what?

Compromise sometimes has to happen, or we're stalemated.

When you don't compromise, you don't get a gas line.

When you get a when you when you don't compromise, you don't get roads to resources.

That's why we're in this mess.

It's fighting like this that causes the problem.

Thank you.

Sir.

You'll have to leave it there, Miss Wilson.

Thank you.

You like rebuttal?

Yes, I'll tell you.

I'll give you a guarantee.

You don't get a gas line.

You don't get a gas line.

If you send a Democrat into your governor's seat, that's what guarantees that you don't get a gas line.

And I want you to know right now, Alaska, if I am the last person standing between you and an income tax, then absolutely I will.

I am up for that battle.

I do not want a governor that's going to concede the fight before they even get started.

If you are not prepared to go down there to battle, to fight against a Hilcorp tax, to fight for a permanent fund dividend, and to fight like hell, to make sure that our kids get a better education.

Sit down in the back of the room.

I'll take a rebuttal.

30s.

So if you've liked the last eight years of Governor Dunleavy, you have a very clear option for four more with Miss Wilson.

If you like the last eight years, you can get four more.

And it's a very clear and easy choice on the ballot.

But the kind of dysfunction and record breaking legislatures for most number of vetoes, I don't think Alaskans want any more of that.

And we need to be able to work together to find common ground, to bridge where there's disagreement.

And that's what's going to move Alaska forward.

Candidates are.

I'm sorry, Miss Wilson.

All right.

Absolutely.

I will I will most certainly respond to that one.

And I'll go back to you know what?

You look at this.

What is at stake right now, Jonathan, you've sponsored that state income tax, that letter to Nancy Pelosi, you know, mandating essentially you might as well be mandating blackouts right now.

My team right now in live time, if you go to our social media pages, check us out on X, go to our Facebook page.

Right now we are posting the letter that JKT signed to Nancy Pelosi.

Right now we are posting that vote that he took in the statements he made on an income tax.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Wilson.

Candidates.

We'll move on to another question.

The United Way recently released a report that found nearly 40% of employed Alaskans cannot afford basic needs.

This number is much, much higher in some areas of state than others.

Can the governor of Alaska help help make life here more affordable?

And if so, what would you do to help the relieve the financial pressure on families?

You'll have 45 seconds to answer this question.

We'll start with Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.

I think it's tackling the drivers for cost of living head on.

And we've already talked about housing.

I'm a I'm a huge pro housing person.

We need to make it easier to build housing, streamline regulations, adjust zoning and permitting so that more housing of all kinds can be built.

Energy.

I'm in all of the above energy person that includes renewables when in solar.

That includes hydro, that includes natural gas, anything that pencils and can drive down the cost.

So that's another major cost of living driver.

I mean, I've mentioned childcare for for young families right now, childcare in Alaska.

If you've got kids, it costs more than your mortgage if you're lucky enough to have a mortgage.

So the state has to address all of those issues head on.

There are a lot of policy levers the state can pull to to reduce the cost of living.

Thank you.

Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

Mr.

Taylor.

Yeah, I mean, the big driver one, you got to reduce cost of living, right?

And you do that.

The biggest lever you pull is affordable, reliable energy.

That's why the gas line project is so essential.

Not only is it provide 5000 jobs throughout the construction, but it provides 1000 full time jobs thereafter.

And these are good paying jobs.

And that's the second thing you got to do.

Right.

And I'm on all above energy person, right.

We got to pursue all these.

We have to think big.

So sit in a dam could provide 50% of the energy that the Alaska rail belt needs.

The other thing is you've got to grow the economy.

You have to give these families economic opportunities with great paying jobs.

And one of the ways you do that is through permitting and regulatory form.

You have to make Alaska business friendly environment.

The state should be partnering with business, not antagonistic to business.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

Miss Wilson.

Absolutely.

So we need to reduce the cost of energy out for sure in this state.

We've talked a lot about the gas line.

There's any number of good energy projects here in Alaska.

We talk about reducing the cost of housing and the importance of bringing good paying jobs, in which most certainly links arms with our own and gas industry 100%.

I can tell you that this administration.

Day one, the executive order, we are going to implement a shot clock when it comes to permitting, so that when businesses want to come into Alaska, they know exactly what is the timeline for when you're going to get your permit.

We will work with the federal government to make sure that you can plan labor, investments, equipment.

Where will it be?

Place financial investments?

Because the reality is we've got to get these projects off the shelf if we're going to have a thriving economy.

They've sat on the shelf for decades.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Bronson, 45 seconds.

Well, first, before you can come to a solution of something, for something, you've got to find a way got here.

And quite frankly, we were here because too many national and presidential administrations, especially the most recent one, has stifled development.

And when you stifle development, that means you're stifling capital, large capital projects, roads to mines, gas lines, pipelines, things like that.

And that's why it's through the environmental rules.

And in all the restrictions the federal government places on us.

We have got to work now with a new administration, the Trump administration love or hate him, but he's been the best president we've ever had for development of this in this state, because we've got to pay the bills.

And we do that by developing by having private enterprise develop our resources for them.

We've got to stop attacking the Hilcorp in the in the Glenn Farms of the world.

All right.

Thank you.

Candidates will now feature some lightning round questions before we get to closing comments.

For these candidates will have 15 seconds to answer.

Wil starts us off.

Thanks, Lori.

Candidates.

Who will you rank number two on your ballot?

We start with Mr.

Taylor.

I'm going to rank Dave Bronson as number two.

Thank you, Mr.

Taylor.

You need to rank everybody in order for this to work.

If you want a conservative in office, you have to rank Bernadette.

You have to rank me, and you got to rank Dave.

Otherwise, you're going to have an income tax, a sales tax, and increase taxes on industry.

Mr.

Taylor.

Miss Wilson.

You know, I enjoy both of my Republican counterparts.

So I'm not I'm not going to attempt to influence their second place vote.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Bronson.

I'm going to vote for Treg number two.

But I would like to say rank one two, three or get my friend JKT.

We do have to rank one.

The math is crystal clear.

And if if Republicans rank, we win.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

Well, given that I'm I'm not a Republican in this race, I don't want to meddle in the intra-Republican ranking, but I will be ranking myself and Zac Johnson, my running mate who's a lifelong independent and an Anchorage Assembly member and Marine Corps veteran, as number one.

Do you have a number two?

Right now, I'll take the fifth on that and just be focused on my number one ranking.

Thank you, sir.

Can I have a rebuttal on this?

Sure.

Yeah.

I think this highlights exactly why we need to get rid of ranked choice voting.

Because the Democrats game the system they realized with two Democrat candidates on the on the the ballot, it was almost impossible for a Democrat to win.

So they stacked the odds in favor of JKT.

That is why we've got to play the ranked choice voting game, and that is why it is so essential.

If you support Bernadette, you have to rank Dave and I or she will not win.

If you support Dave, you have to rank Bernadette and I or he will not win.

If you like me, which all of you out there do, you got to rank Bernadette and Dave or I will not win, sir.

Candidates.

Besides your budgets, what's the first bill you would introduce in the legislature?

We'll start with you, Miss Wilson.

Well, I can tell you that day, one of this administration, I talked about implementing a shot clock.

I can tell you that under this administration, immediately, we will be rolling back all of the arbitrary regulations that are on the books.

We are going to introduce legislation to do away with automatic voter registration with the permanent fund dividend.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Bronson, first bill will be a bill that I will work with the legislative legislature on, on regulatory reform and secondly, will be election reform.

Thank you, Mr.

Bronson.

Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins, first bill.

The first bill I'll introduce will be a bill to fully fund and forward fund education and will make sure that that bill passes the legislature and gets signed by me on the desk of the governor by March, so that for the first time in decades, school districts have certainty for education funding.

Thank you, Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

And Mr.

Taylor, what's the first bill you introduce?

Yeah, my first bill is about education as well.

It's going to be forward funding education, and it's also going to be putting the accountability provisions back into the Reads Act.

Right now, we have a strong suggestion of a program that works.

We need to actually put the accountability behind it so we can rise to the top of the rankings in the United States and do our families that service.

All right.

Thank you.

It is time now for closing comments.

Candidates.

You will have one minute for your final comments.

And we did draw numbers earlier.

Mr.

Taylor.

You'll start us off.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Now our next governor needs to be able to fight for Alaska, but also work across the aisle.

And I'm a proven fighter on behalf of Alaska.

As Alaska's chief prosecutor, I worked very hard and helped drive crime to 40 year lows.

As your attorney general, I fought back against the 70 executive orders of Biden, trying to shut down Alaska in our way of life, and I won.

I defended a parent's ability to choose their child's education.

I defended the Willow project, which provided lots of good paying jobs to Alaskans.

I repeatedly defended our right to bear arms, and I beat back Biden's Covid vaccine mandates on behalf of Alaskans.

Now, I have also worked successfully across the aisle.

I was unanimously elected by the Democrat and Republican attorneys, attorneys general to chair the Attorney General Alliance, and together we worked very successful.

I worked with Democrats to hold Big Pharma responsible for the opioid epidemic, and I received over $100 million to deal with addiction recovery in Alaska.

We successfully pushed for better parental controls with social media.

Thank you sir.

Thank you.

We'll have to leave it there.

Miss Wilson, you're next.

Absolutely.

So as we sit up on the stage tonight, we're talking about so many of the same problems and concerns facing Alaska that you've discussed with multiple gubernatorial candidates in the past.

The question is, in roughly 26 days, what will we do differently this time so that we're not having these same conversations?

This is the time of year where everyone's making big promises.

And really, the question that each of you is trying to figure out is who's full of crap and who can actually deliver.

I would really you to consider the job that Congressman Begich has done, that man has delivered for Alaska in a very big way.

Everywhere I go, people tell me, Bernadette.

Governor Hickel was one of the greatest governors Alaska ever had.

How do we get that back?

Both of those men came from outside government.

They've signed the front of a paycheck.

They knew the ups and downs of business.

Governor Hickel, one of the greatest, had never been in political office.

The reality is, history, both past and present, answers the question of who can deliver.

Thank you.

Alaska.

This is our moment to rise.

Thank you, Miss Wilson.

Mr.

Kreiss-Tomkins.

If you were a fan of the last eight years under Mike Dunleavy, I am not your candidate.

There are other candidates in this race who who could be your candidate, I think Bernadette Wilson is running for Mike Dunleavys third term.

And if youre fan of the last eight.

You've got four more, and that's an option on the ballot.

But if you want change, if you want to put the Mike Dunleavy era in the rear view mirror for Alaska, you should vote for me and Zac Johnson for governor and lieutenant governor.

The list of things in Alaska that has been broken is long, and it is sad.

K-12 education has been driven into the ground.

Energy and electricity prices are spiraling, and there's no leadership to solve the crisis.

And there has not been a single balanced budget that's been introduced by this governor.

If you want to start fixing what is broken in Alaska, you should vote for me and Zac.

If you want to high partisan, high energy problem solving approach, you should vote for me and Zac, if you want to put the Dunleavy era in the rearview mirror for Alaska and rediscover hope and optimism for our state's future.

For me and Zac on November 3rd.

Well leave that there, Mr.

Bronson, for a minute.

Well, to lead this state forward through all the great opportunities we have going forward and the challenges that we've spoken of here, you're going to need experience and that there's three folks up here on this podium that have experience.

There is one that brags that she does not.

There's three members, three folks up here who have their personal house in order that pay their personal bills.

There is one that does not.

However, three of those people, three people on this podium, share a common conservative worldview.

And Jonathan doesn't share that that worldview.

But we share many, if not all, the same objective objectives.

It's how you're going to get to those goals.

How you're going to work towards them is what's going to determine the difference between Jonathan's a great guy, but we we're on different sides of the political spectrum.

Some of us are on the same side, but we have our personal house in order of personal financial affairs in order.

It's going to take experience to lead forward someone who is willing to work with the legislature, not fight against them.

All right.

Thank you.

Let's take one more quick look at our poll results.

Or maybe we'll just close out for this evening.

Oh, there's our poll.

Thank you.

We have 35% who are voting in favor of education.

10% are concerned about health care, 7% are concerned about the PFD in the budget, 19% are calling for climate change.

All right.

Thank you to our candidates, our reporters, Eric Stone and Wil Courtney.

That concludes debate for the state for Alaska's next governor.

We'll be back next Wednesday, October 14th for the U.S.

House.

Thanks for joining us this evening.

I'm Lori Townsend for Alaska's News Source and Alaska Public Media.

Thanks for joining us tonight.

Good night.