Tomorrow, Kenai Peninsula voters head to the polls to cast ballots for new state lawmakers, U.S. president and vice president, on ballot measures and more. Today, KDLL is bringing you the last installment in a series of stories spotlighting local races as we enter the home stretch of election season. Today, we dial in on House District 7 using highlights from our 2024 candidate forum series.
Two Republican veterans of the Alaska Legislature are running for the state House seat that covers Kenai and Soldotna. Incumbent candidate Justin Ruffridge faces a challenge from Ron Gillham, who preceded Ruffridge in the seat.
Ruffridge was elected in 2022. He co-chairs the House Education Committee and is vice chair of the House Labor and Commerce and Health and Social Services committees. Ruffridge sits on an additional seven committees. Outside the Legislature, he’s a pharmacist and co-owns three pharmacies around the state.
“So for those of you who don't know me, my name is Justin Ruffridge,” he said. “I've had the pleasure of representing District 7, which is the Kenai/Soldotna area, for the last two years.”
Gillham represented the central Kenai Peninsula in the Legislature from 2021 to 2022. During that time, he served on the House Resources and Education committees. He’s a heavy equipment operator on the North Slope and former fishing guide.
“I've been on the peninsula almost 40 years,” he said. “I have a wife, and raised my two kids here. My wife had a business doing taxes at a tax service business here.”
Economy
The two candidates have different philosophies when it comes to state finances.
Gillham says state finances aren’t his top legislative priority, and that he’s previously counted on working with others when it comes to fiscal policy. He says the state needs a new source of revenue and opposes new taxes, except for a 2% sales tax. He says he’d also support a bill to eliminate personal property taxes for seniors.
“Every person has a different idea of what's being spent too much and what's not enough,” he said. “So there again, you just have to put people around you that do understand that.”
Ruffridge supports constitutionalizing the state’s permanent fund dividend, diversifying state revenue and increasing the amount of revenue that comes from the development of state resources. He wants to see all those pieces in one bill, as opposed to being introduced separately as has been done in the past.
“One of the things that I think we need to prioritize is a fiscal plan,” he said. “That's something that the House Majority spent a lot of time working on, had all of the different pieces and parts to work on that.”
Energy
Ruffridge and Gillham also diverge slightly on state energy issues.
Ruffridge says he thinks energy will be the Legislature’s number one priority when it reconvenes next session. He says the state shouldn’t be incentivizing liquefied natural gas imports and supports building a natural gas pipeline between the North Slope and Nikiski.
“We get to be a domestic supplier of our own resources,” he said. “We can drive down the cost of energy, which is a significant increase to our state budget, year over year paying for natural gas and heating.”
Gillham says government is the greatest hindrance to the pipeline project and new drilling in Cook Inlet. He says the state should consider importing liquefied natural gas if it makes financial sense, although he’d rather produce that resource locally.
“We just need to get government out of the way, and private industry will come in and build a pipeline,” he said. “There's still a lot of gas in the inlet, and there again, we need to get government out of the way. Say, get private industry in here and let private industry do what they do best, and that is, produce jobs.”
Education and education funding
Ruffridge and Gillham disagree over the best way to financially support K-12 schools.
Gillham doesn’t support increasing the base amount of money school districts get per student, called the base student allocation. He says schools are well-funded and that any more money should be contingent on school accountability.
“I believe that there's plenty of money in this, in the school systems, but there again, until they decide that we are going to be accountable, show you where the money is going, and, you know, adhere to that accountability then, then, no, I don't think we should be giving them more money,” he said.
Gillham says Alaska needs more charter schools and that traditional brick-and-mortar schools are failing kids.
Last session, Ruffridge supported a bill that would have increased Alaska’s BSA. He thinks districts should decide how state money gets spent and opposes using one-time money as a solution to funding shortfalls.
“If we consistently do one-time allocations for our school districts and for education funding, that money is not actually spent on the things that we want it to be spent on,” he said. “It is not spent on teachers, and it is really difficult for it to get into the classroom, because it is not money that you can count on for the future, and yet we still spend it.”
Ruffridge says he’d also like to see more state resources supporting charter school development and full state funding for home-schooled students.
Campaign finance
Ruffridge has significantly outraised Gillham this election cycle. As of Monday, Ruffridge had raised more than $51,000 since June 2023. That amount includes $555 in non-monetary contributions. That’s compared to Gillham, who raised more than $15,000. That includes just over $800 in non-monetary donations.
All of Gillham’s campaign cash has come from just 31 people. Gillham’s top donors include the Republican Women of the Kenai $2,500 and himself $2,295.74. He also received several $1,000 contributions from local residents. The Alaska Republicans and the Kenai Peninsula Republican Women also both each chipped in $500.
Ruffridge has brought in more than $13,000 from more than a dozen political action committees, including those that represent firefighters, sea pilots, dentists, optometrists and seafood processors, among others.
General Election day is tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. More information about the election, including when, where and how to vote, is available on the Alaska Division of Elections website at alaska.elections.gov. You can learn more about local candidates by visiting our website.
