It's Friday, Alaska!

In this edition: Oh, right, the Anchorage election is right around the corner, and I should really get around to looking into that right-wing school board candidate everyone's been talking about... yikes! Let's look at the state of the far-right in the race and the folks who are doing their best to call them out for their extreme claims and dubious connections. Also, the reading list and weekend watching.

Current mood: 🤨

Right-wing candidates are 'Saying the quiet parts out loud again.'

A year after Anchorage voters sent right-wing Mayor Dave Bronson packing in the 2024 election, a new round of conservative candidates are seeking office, and some are generating a lot of concern over their extreme comments and dubious connections. While conservative candidates might share similar views on education and local government, much of the alarm in this upcoming election is focused on Anchorage school board candidate Alexander Rosales, who has espoused extreme and sometimes violent rhetoric on his X account, "Tears of Valhalla." Rosales has presented himself as a typical far-right candidate primarily motivated by culture war issues swirling around the public school system. But on X, he’s made posts attacking Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Alaska Natives, liberals and trans people.

The posts have been carefully documented by progressive-leaning activists Ivan Hodes, who beefed famously with now-former right-wing Wasilla Rep. David Eastman, and Betsy Peratrovich, the granddaughter of Alaska civil rights icon Elizabeth Peratrovich. Hodes was one of the first to link Rosales to his X account, reposting comments on his Bluesky account and writing, “Babe, wake up, a new Anchorage School Board candidate just dropped.” Meet Alexander Rosales, aka ‘Tears of Valhalla,’ candidate for Seat A. He’s a white nationalist and heinous transphobe masquerading as a compassionate conservative.”

In the thread, Hodes explained how while Rosales’ campaign has focused on much of the standard right-wing talking points about parental choice, patriotism, “biased curriculum,” and his opposition to Common Core, his posting on X has revealed far more extreme views. In one post that has drawn particular attention, Rosales wrote, “Ban trans kinds. Make the penalty jail time and castration for the parents” in a response to conspiracy entertainer Alex Jones. It's a comment that has continued to dog Rosales, including at candidate forums. Rosales says everyone was overlooking context, and it was really about protecting children from violence.

“It just comes down to, if somebody’s going to harm a child, there should be some kind of consequence,” he said at a candidate forum, according to the ADN, also claiming that the “school board has been complicit in transitioning kids and not notifying parents … So, of course, I’m going to be abrasive about it. But do I want to castrate anybody? No.”

(For the record, of course, none of this is true, but a piece of the right-wing culture war that's been fomented in service of undermining the public school system.)

While other conservative candidates have distanced themselves from Rosales – with conservative candidate Mark Anthony Cox going as far as to endorse Rosales' progressive rival, Margo Bellamy, over him – it's hard to overlook the fact that conservative media has been happy to run cover for him. Both Must Read and the Watchman have posts boosting Rosales as part of a slate of Good Conservatives, frequently alongside Cox and Eagle River Assembly candidate Jared Goecker.

(It's also hard to overlook how Cox's rhetoric on schools – particularly about the need to invest in "top-performing" schools, which research shows is more linked to socioeconomic status than the school, like charters – is pretty far right.)

Hodes told me that part of his motivation for calling out Rosales and others who've been close to him – Rosales was a volunteer in Goecker's bid against moderate labor-friendly Eagle River Republican Sen. Kelly Merrick last year (where he lost by more than 10 points despite concerted GOP efforts to boost Goecker) – is the right's reflexive tolerance and support of his views.

“Even ten years ago, establishment Republicans – even right-wing ones – would have been stepping over each other in a rush to get away from a candidate obsessed with castration, who defended Hitler, who disparaged Alaska Natives as corrupt and ignorant, and who mainlined antisemitic conspiracy theories, who thought it was sometimes appropriate to call people the n-word,” he said. “And yet Rosales is being pushed forward in local Republican circles, defended in writing and on the air by prominent conservatives like Dan Fagan, because it seems nowadays anyone is deemed ‘one of us,’ and therefore to be supported and defended, simply because they oppose what they see as the liberal status quo.”

Fagan penned an op-ed on Must Read Alaska in early March, defending Rosales and calling Hodes a “race-baiting troll.” It even attacked Rosales’ opponent, Margo Bellamy, for not condemning Hodes’ “unfounded and vicious attacks.”

Hodes said he’s undaunted by the attacks and believes it’s important to call out and respond to the rising extreme-right movement that has become emboldened in recent years.

“I feel called to shed light on the extremism of Rosales and others because the increasing acceptance of candidates with this kind of rhetoric is a threat to the basic fabric of the country I love,” he said, adding that all too often, candidates like Rosales float under the radar. “To me, someone like him running with the support of conservative institutions was a five-alarm fire, and I responded with urgency.”

Betsy Peratrovich said she first learned about Rosales’ views from Hodes but was even more alarmed as she started doing her own digging. On Facebook, she’s put together an exhaustive album of Rosales’ social media posts and written at length to call out his views. She said she’s met people who’ve already voted, only to find out later about Rosales’ views. She says she hopes they’ll at least help spread the word as more people cast their ballots.

“It just really struck a chord in me. It’s just so hard to believe that the climate in our country allows somebody like that to run for office but for other people to think that’s OK in spite of the things he’s said,” she said. “It’s just incredible to me. I think back to the discrimination my grandparents faced. And it’s just pretty unsettling to hear people saying the quiet parts out loud again.”

Anchorage's election is next Tuesday, April 1.

Stay tuned.

Reading list

• Alaska Public - Alaska Native corporation’s shareholders question migrant detention contracts
• Alaska Public - Anchorage election administrator resigns in the middle of voting
• Alaska Public - Sullivan criticism of federal judge is off-base, attorneys say
• Alaska Beacon - Alaska elections experts are uncertain about Trump order’s effects
• Alaska Beacon - Alaska corrections officials testify on in-custody deaths, mitigation efforts
• Alaska Beacon - Alaska legislators look to savings account for deficit fix
• Peninsula Clarion - Bringing back music education
• KDLL - State approves confidential deal with developer to move gasline project forward

Weekend watching

In a time of extremely Serious Things, here's something very dumb and silly.

Have a nice weekend, y'all, and don't forget to get those ballots in!