Political leanings

Alaska is often described as a Republican-leaning state with strong Libertarian tendencies. In presidential elections, the state's electoral college votes have been almost always won by a Republican nominee. Only once has Alaska supported a Democratic nominee, when it supported Lyndon B. Johnson in the landslide year of 1964, although the 1960 and 1968 elections were close. No state has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate fewer times. President George W. Bush won the state's electoral votes in 2004 by a margin of 25 percentage points with 61.1% of the vote. The city of Juneau is a stronghold of the Democratic party. As of 2004, well over half of all registered voters choose "Non-Partisan" or "Undeclared" as their affiliation, despite recent attempts to close primaries. Alaska possesses a pervasively strong independence movement favoring secession from the US, with the Alaska Independence Party labeled one of the "the most significant state-level third parties operating in the 20th century".

State government

December 4, 2006, Sarah Palin was sworn in as the first woman and youngest Governor of Alaska. Her running mate was Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell. Palin is the former two-term mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

The Alaska Legislature consists of a 20-member Senate, whose members serve four-year terms, and 40-member House of Representatives, who serve two-year terms. It has been dominated by conservatives, generally Republicans. Recent state governors have been mostly conservatives, although not always elected under the official Republican banner. Republican Wally Hickel was elected to the office for a second term in 1990 after jumping the Republican ship and briefly joining the Alaskan Independence Party ticket just long enough to be reelected. He subsequently officially rejoined the Republican fold in 1994.

Alaska's court system has four levels: the Alaska Supreme Court, the court of appeals, the superior courts and the district courts. The superior and district courts are trial courts. Superior courts are courts of general jurisdiction, while district courts only hear certain types of cases, including misdemeanor criminal cases and civil cases valued up to $100,000. The supreme court and the court of appeals are appellate courts. The court of appeals is required to hear appeals from certain lower-court decisions, including those regarding criminal prosecutions, juvenile delinquency, and habeas corpus. The supreme court hears civil appeals and may in its discretion hear criminal appeals.

Local political communities often work on issues related to land use development, fishing, tourism, and individual rights. Alaska Natives, while organized in and around their communities, are often active within the Native corporations which have been given ownership over large tracts of land, and thus need to deliberate resource conservation and development issues.

Representation in the U.S. Congress

Alaska's members of the U.S. Congress are all Republican. U.S. Senator Ted Stevens was appointed to the position following the death of U.S. Senator Bob Bartlett in December 1968, and has not lost a re-election campaign since. As the longest-serving Republican in the Senate (sometimes nicknamed "Senator-For-Life"), Stevens has been a crucial force in gaining federal money for his state.

Until his resignation from the U.S. Senate after being elected governor in 2002, Republican Frank Murkowski held the state's other senatorial position and, as governor, appointed his daughter, State Representative Lisa Murkowski as his successor (under massive public pressure, the State legislature amended the constitution to eliminate gubernatorial appointments in the future). She won a full six-year term on her own in 2004.

Alaska's sole U.S. Representative, Don Young, was re-elected to his 17th consecutive term, also in 2004. His seniority in House makes him one of the most influential Republican House members.