East Anchorage Assembly candidate Spencer Moore is heavily connected to Mountain City Church, formerly called the Anchorage Baptist Temple, though much of his campaign material doesn’t mention the affiliation.
Moore works for the church full time as its outreach coordinator. His wife, Morgan Moore, works there part-time. She’s the daughter of Mountain City Church Pastor Ron Hoffman, and the Moores live in a house owned by Hoffman and his wife.
On his campaign website, Moore talks about working in the construction industry but makes no mention of his employment with Mountain City Church. Similarly, he makes no mention of being married to the pastor’s daughter of the second largest church in Alaska.
He provides positions on fairly standard issues: the economy, public safety, and infrastructure. He doesn’t get into things like religious liberty or “family values.” However, in a Facebook Live video where the Hoffmans and Moores discuss marriage dynamics, Moore talks about the authority a man should have in the household.
“I don’t tell you how to do your hair, don’t tell me how to do something that I know how to do,” Moore said.
The Hoffmans with two of their daughters and son-in-laws discussing marriage in a facebook live shared to Mountain City’s Facebook page (left to right, Preston Gagnon, Jaclyn Gagnon, Pastor Ron Hoffman, Crystal Hoffman, Morgan Moore, Spencer Moore.)
Moore said the things that make him feel respected in his marriage are having a stay-at-home wife and a wife who follows his direction.
“That’s a way she can show me respect, if she hears me out,” Moore says to the group. “Not saying she necessarily has to implement what I am suggesting…”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Ron Hoffman interjects. “Yes, she does.”
“Well, yes,” Moore agreed.
Clip 2, “yes, she does” (left to right, Preston Gagnon, Jaclyn Gagnon, Pastor Ron Hoffman, Crystal Hoffman, Morgan Moore, Spencer Moore.)
The church operated for three decades as ABT and is deeply political. It’s long been
a vehicle for the far right, propping up political candidates and organizing volunteers. The church regularly hosts right-wing candidates to pitch their congregation days before an election, and in 2021, former pastor Jerry Prevo was recorded talking about how he knew “how to work” his tax-exempt status for political purposes.
When changing the church name from Anchorage Baptist Temple to Mountain City earlier this year, Hoffman said “the name Mountain City reflects what we have become; not only an influencer of Anchorage but the entire state of Alaska.”
Perhaps the church’s biggest political win was the election of Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson, a founding member of Jim Minnery’s Alaska Family Council, an organization which advocates for anti-abortion policies, LGBTQ discrimination and “religious liberties.” The group is closely aligned with ABT. On May 9, 2021, during the Anchorage mayoral race between Bronson and Sen. Forrest Dunbar, Hoffman gave a speech promoting Bronson. Bronson sat in attendance.
“The war is never over and if there’s a chance,” Hoffman said during the six-minute speech disparaging Dunbar and praising Bronson. “If you have not voted, and if you have not told 20 people to vote, and you’ve not told everyone in the world to vote, I would encourage that you do so.”
Originally, Mountain City Church had two employees running for Assembly, but Cody Anderson dropped out of the race and became Moore’s campaign chair and treasurer. Moore later removed Anderson as treasurer and hired Jason Michaud, a political operative in Tacoma with ties to Axiom Strategies. Axiom, a Missouri-based firm started by Sen. Ted Cruz’s former campaign manager, is one of the largest Republican consulting firms in the country. Moore and five other conservative Assembly candidates are using Axiom as a vendor this cycle.
The church and its high-profile members are also providing significant support to the Moore campaign. Ron Hoffman’s wife, Crystal, gave the campaign its first donation, a $5,000 lump sum.
Nearly one-third of Moore’s total donations, which reached $27,388 by the beginning of March, came from the people affiliated with Mountain City Church. Morgan Moore gave a non-monetary donation of graphic design work worth $2,500. An employee of Mountain City’s associated school, Anchorage Christian Schools, donated $1,000.
Moore also served as a Republican Party District Chairman and as the Republican Party Regional Representative for East Anchorage, Eagle River, and Chugiak. While in this role, he testified in favor of an illegal political gerrymander that would have paired East Anchorage with Eagle River into a senate district. If it had succeeded, the gerrymander would have benefited the Republican party at the expense of East Anchorage residents, but would have aligned with Mountain City’s goal to elect more Republicans. Moore’s East Anchorage opponent, George Martinez, has raised over $60,000, mostly through small individual donations.
The house the Moore’s live in is located across the street from one of 24 properties owned by Anchorage Baptist Temple Inc. (now Mountain City Church). Property records show that the Hoffmans own five properties, including the home that the Moore’s live in.
Clip 3, “stay at home” (left to right, Preston Gagnon, Jaclyn Gagnon, Pastor Ron Hoffman, Crystal Hoffman, Morgan Moore, Spencer Moore.)
Much of Moore’s campaign material portrays him as focused on core government issues rather than culture warrior rhetoric that consumes so much of right-wing politics today. But his connection with the church and the Hoffmans show at the least an acceptance of extremism and misogyny.
In one of the Facebook live videos, Moore and his wife sit alongside their extended family as Ron Hoffman espouses his views on relationship dynamics, saying the man should be viewed as the “master,” “ruler,” and “lord.”
“When you see him that way and you value him that way, then you’ll respect him,” Hoffman said as Moore and his wife sat by and listened. “That is the hard truth.”
Clip 4, “he is the ruler” (left to right, Preston Gagnon, Jaclyn Gagnon, Pastor Ron Hoffman, Crystal Hoffman, Morgan Moore, Spencer Moore.)
