Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly President Brent Johnson is joining the race for the Alaska House seat that represents the southern Kenai Peninsula. Johnson filed a letter of intent to run for the House District 6 seat on April 15. The district covers the southern Kenai Peninsula up to Kasilof, and includes the communities of Homer, Anchor Point, Ninilchik and Clam Gulch, where Johnson has lived for over 60 years.
Johnson decided to run as a non-partisan candidate after incumbent Representative Sarah Vance, R-Homer, voted not to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 140. That bill included a $680 increase to the Base Student Allocation, the per-student amount of funding the state provides for public education.
“I just feel really strongly about education,” he said, “and while Sarah Vance is a nice person, I was hurt personally over that, and I want to see our kids in the Kenai Peninsula Borough educated real well. And it's going to take money to do that.”
This isn’t the first time Johnson has run for public office. He is in his fourth term as an assembly member and is the current assembly president, and also belongs to many fishing-related committees and associations. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin nominated him to the Board of Fisheries in 2009, but the state legislature didn’t confirm his appointment.
He has also served on the borough’s planning commission and the Kenai/Soldotna Advisory Committee for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This committee advises the department on fishing and hunting issues in the central Peninsula. He is currently the president of the Kenai Peninsula Fishermen's Association, and serves as a board member of Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association as well.
Johnson has been a set-net fisherman since 1962, and was impacted by the closure of the fishery on the eastern side of Cook Inlet last season.
“The state has taken my set-net fishery away from me. And so now I'm fresh out of a job,” he said, “I want the voters to give me a new job, I want this job, I'm gonna go and work hard if they will hire me.”
If elected, he says he will focus on fishing policies, budgetary issues and state services.
While Johnson doesn’t live in the district’s population center of Homer, he was born across Kachemak Bay in Seldovia and lived in Homer for several years. Johnson maintains many connections to the area and said he will work to stay connected with the community.
“I got a lot of connections in Homer. And I will make those connections,” he said, “I'll just get my feet on the ground and go talk to people.”
Johnson is running against Vance, as well as Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce president Dawson Slaughter and Kachemak-Selo School teacher Alana Greear.
The 2024 primary election for the state house race is on August 20.
