The race for Alaska’s next governor grew to eight this week with the entrance of the state’s former commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services, the Department of Health and the Department of Revenue.
Adam Crum, who has never held elected office but has held three different cabinet-level positions, is the latest in what has so far been an all-Republican crowd to replace the term-limited Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy in 2026. Out of all the candidates, Crum is the most closely aligned with the current governor and is expected to have oil industry backing.
Crum and get it
Crum has been one of the few constants of the Dunleavy administration. He began as the commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services, a role that was split into two different jobs midway through Dunleavy’s tenure with the creation of the Department of Health and the Department of Family and Community Services (not to be confused with the “Office of Family and Life” staffed by a guy who claimed “divorce is worse than rape”).
While Crum argued that dividing his job over two departments would increase efficiency, a recent state audit revealed that several state functions fell apart after the split.
More recently, Crum played a critical role in the suspiciously secretive handling of the state’s oil and gas tax system at the Department of Revenue. A bipartisan coalition of legislators has raised concerns over a “pattern of obstruction” by the administration that appears to be covering up an especially soft approach to enforcing the state’s tax code, potentially allowing hundreds of millions of dollars of tax revenue to go uncollected.
While Dunleavy and Crum have insisted nothing untoward has been happening, a former official has accused Crum of intentionally steering the Department of Revenue to take an industry-friendly approach with the collection of oil and gas taxes, allegedly in an effort to woo oil company support for his campaign.
There’s a social media post floating around from a former Department of Revenue official, he said Crum “told me point blank that he expected me to violate statute to enrich oil companies on public money they weren’t legally entitled to — sounded like they promised to donate to his 2026 election bid.”
To get to the bottom of the issue, legislators broadly approved legislation compelling the state to comply with the financial audits. Dunleavy vetoed the measure, but legislators took the unusual step of overriding the governor’s veto at the August special session.
Still, answers to Crum’s involvement in oil and gas taxes will still take time to come to light. The audit process approved by legislators could still, as many things under the Dunleavy administration have, end up in the courts in a protracted battle that could likely push the results to after the 2026 election.
The state of the race
Crum’s entrance marks one of the bigger ticket establishment Republicans to enter a race that already includes seven other Republicans, including moderate labor-friendly state Sen. Click Bishop, far-right state Sen. Shelley Hughes, and Mat-Su Borough Mayor Edna DeVries. There have so far been no independents or Democrats to file for the seat.
Much talk has been around former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, who also served in the Alaska Legislature during the 2000s, making a run for governor. According to recent polling, Peltola would be the odds-on favorite to win the seat.
So, without further ado, let’s see how they all stack up according to our Votable Index Based Entirely on Science (VIBES) analysis of their ability to win in 2026.
1. Click Bishop
Pros: Moderate, labor-friendly Republican that Democrats could live with.
Cons: Reviled by the Alaska Republican Party for being a moderate, labor-friendly Republican that Democrats can live with.
2. Adam Crum
Pros: The oil industry has a lot of money.
Cons: May or may not have done something untoward to benefit the oil industry.
3. Shelley Hughes
Pros: A forerunner in anti-trans panic who’s likely to be fomenting fear of whoever’s next.
Cons: Too conservative for a lot of normie Republicans.
4. Edna DeVries
Pros: Has a lot of experience.
Cons: She’ll be 85 by the time she’s sworn in, a point that Republican media has seemed to fixate on following her filing, suggesting she doesn’t have the right blessings.
5. Bernadette Wilson
Pros: An ultra-MAGA mudslinger who understands that grievance and alternate facts go a long way in today’s modern political world.
Cons: Alaska’s modern political world also now votes with ranked-choice voting, so appealing to extremes doesn’t get the same mileage it used to.
6. Matt Heilala
Pros: Has the outward appearance of competence that comes with being a doctor while also being a key figure in the right’s panic over trans kids.
Cons: So far, a one-note candidate who’s giving Bear Doctor vibes.
7. James William Parkin IV
Pros: He is ostensibly a working-class-focused guy with his support for bigger PFDs, funded schools and public employee pensions.
Cons: In an academic sense, the problem is how you pay for it all. In a political sense, he’s about as out of line with the party powers as Bishop is while lacking the folksy appeal.
8. Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom
Pros: Currently shares a floor with the governor.
Cons: A good Republican soldier after she dipped out of the U.S. House race, clearing the way for U.S. Rep. Nick Begich to beat U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, but who wants a quitter?
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
