A Republican running to represent an Alaska House district that’s 85% Alaska Native said last year that the region needs someone who can “counter the Native voice.”
The comment by House District 38 candidate Willie Keppel, who is white, on an appearance on the Michael Dukes radio show last year, and is among a long list of what detractors say is a history of racism and other troubling behavior. Keppel, a perennial candidate in Western Alaska races, changed his party affiliation to the Alaska Republican Party this year from the Veterans’ Party of Alaska and has been a prominent voice on talk radio.
“I really believe it’s going to take somebody from out here to be able to go in and counter the native voice that’s from Western Alaska that wants to continue what we have going,” he said during his appearance, complaining about longtime Alaska Native lawmakers Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, and House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham. “You need someone strong enough to go in there and say, ‘Hey, this is pure malarkey. Things have to change.’”
Keppel went on to suggest that state and federal funding to rural communities, particularly those that fight for subsistence hunting and fishing rights, be cut off, pointing to then-recent cuts to indigenous services in Canada. He suggested that it’d encourage people to move out of communities and “back to where there’s opportunity for their kids.”
“Canada went so far as to tell village communities that in the far north up here, hey … You want to be up here? That’s fine, but we’re done supporting you,” Keppel said. “You’re on subsistence? So you’re on subsistence.”
House District 38 covers much of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta surrounding Bethel. It is currently represented by Rep. Nellie Jimmie, D-Toksook Bay, who is Yup’ik. The race includes her, Keppel, Democrat CJ McCormick, and Independent Joseph Amik.
Keppel made his comments during an update on the fallout of Typhoon Halong on Western Alaska, a disaster that displaced about 1,500 residents. And while Keppel argued Alaska Native leaders like Hoffman and Edgmon weren’t doing enough for residents, it’s ultimately been Republicans who’ve opposed extending the disaster declaration.
Over several radio appearances, Keppel has blamed hardships people living in rural communities face on Alaska Native lawmakers and groups, claiming they “do everything they can to keep them broke and keep them here, so that the money keeps flowing.” He’s long cast Alaska Native leaders and organizations as having a “nepotism problem,” as he did in an August 2024 appearance on Dukes’ show, and that “they’re all on the free, free, free wagon” when it comes to services.
While Keppel has become a regular on conservative talk radio in the region, giving him a far-reaching platform, he has also faced accusations of domestic violence and sexual assault that critics say get ignored.
Keppel was one of the subjects of a 2020 ProPublica report on a rash of alleged sexual assaults committed by male politicians in the region. The report noted he faced restraining orders from four different women and was temporarily banished from a village. As the report noted, sexual assault rates are particularly high in rural communities, which often lack the same kind of law enforcement presence as urban communities.
Keppel has never been criminally charged in those cases, but Anchorage Rep. Zack Fields, a Democrat, said he believes this has given Keppel a reputation that leaves few people willing to speak out publicly.
“It’s outrageous that he’s the de facto spokesperson for the Republican Party in rural Alaska,” he said. “It’s not just about party, someone with that kind of record has no place speaking for a region.”
And at this week’s candidate debate hosted by KYUK, Keppel was cut off for comments that the host deemed “derogatory” toward Jimmie, where he suggested that she was overly emotional in Juneau.
As for Keppel’s part, he’s denied that he’s ever had non-consensual sex with another person but seemed less firm when ProPublica asked if he had ever committed domestic violence, replying, “Not that I recall.”
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.
