In shakeup, disqualified governor candidate's running mate — and his wife — step up to run
"I'm stepping up to governor," Candi English told employees at the Alaska Division of Elections.
Northern Journal has merged with the Anchorage Press! Read our announcement and other information here, and support us with a subscription here.
In a last-minute shakeup, Republican gubernatorial candidate Treg Taylor's running mate, Candi English, has filed to fill his place on the ballot after state elections officials disqualified Taylor for noncompliance with Alaska's financial disclosure law.
Taylor's wife, Jodi, meanwhile, filed to run as English's new lieutenant governor running mate.
English and Jodi Taylor made the move just a few hours after Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, who oversees Alaska elections, disqualified Treg Taylor from appearing on the general election ballot.
Dahlstrom, concurring with Alaska's campaign finance regulators, found that Taylor had not disclosed the identities of tenants at a building he owns, as required by law.
Less than an hour before Monday's 5 p.m. candidate withdrawal deadline, English and Jodi Taylor arrived at the Anchorage office of the Alaska Division of Elections to shake up the ballot.
"I'm stepping up to governor," English told employees at the office. She then told another visitor to the office: “It’s all for the good of the state. The state needs the right people in place. We can’t get it wrong.”
Officials at the elections division in Anchorage accepted English's and Taylor's filing documents but declined to immediately confirm whether their candidacies would be formally accepted.
"We are processing paperwork and will sort through it all tomorrow," Dahlstrom said in a text message late Monday.
In a brief interview after filing, before an aide — Quincy Azimi-Tabrizi, a daughter of the Taylors — ushered her out of the office, English said: "We do not need Californians dictating Alaska."
"We need an Alaskan, and our commitment to our lifestyle, to determine our government. And JKT is just not what we need," English said. That was a reference to leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, who's raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from California residents.
Nathaniel Herz
Kreiss-Tomkins and his campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Taylors' last-minute switch Monday stunned political observers. After arriving at the elections office and learning of the move, Jeff Landfield, the Alaska political blogger, summed up many insiders' reactions: "What the hell is happening?"
November's general election ballot, by law, includes the top four finishers in this month’s nonpartisan primary.
Treg Taylor finished fifth, but the second-placed primary candidate, Democrat Tom Begich, withdrew over the weekend and endorsed Kreiss-Tomkins. That made room for Taylor on the ballot — until his disqualification Monday.
The last two candidates on the general election ballot are also both Republicans, longtime party activist Bernadette Wilson and former Anchorage mayor Dave Bronson.
