Note: Due to redistricting, David Eastman will no longer be the representative for the northern Susitna Valley following this November’s election.
Last week, the Alaska Division of Elections (DOE) determined that Representative David Eastman of Wasilla is eligible to run for reelection, despite challenges to his candidacy. The DOE received 24 filed complaints, centered around concerns that Eastman is affiliated with the far-right Oath Keepers group.
Members of the Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy for plotting to storm the U.S. Capitol on January 6th of 2021.
Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai did not have any comments for KTNA. She forwarded a letter she wrote responding to the complaints against Eastman.
The letter states that the DOE is aware Representative Eastman is reportedly a member of the Oath Keepers and attended a rally on January 6th. Fenumiai writes, however, that, “…even assuming these allegations are true, DOE has determined that they do not—without more—provide a basis to prevent Representative Eastman from running for state office.”
A provision of the Alaska Constitution disqualifies anyone from holding public office who “advocates, or who aids or belongs to any party or organization or association which advocates, the overthrow by force or violence of the government of the United States or of the State.”
Eagle River Attorney Jason A. Thomas filed a complaint against Eastman for this very reason.
Thomas tells KTNA that he feels he didn’t have a robust hearing or get the ability to ask David Eastman questions simply because the Alaska Constitution could never have foreseen the behavior of rioters at the January 6th Insurrection.
“The administrative code didn’t really foresee someone challenging a candidate for disloyalty, I don’t think, in how they drafted the ability to challenge a candidate.”
Regardless, Thomas feels that Fenumiai didn’t adequately review his case. And he’s concerned. When asked what he feels are the dangers of this type of decision, Thomas is clear, calling it:
“Delegitimization of our democracy and our electoral process.”
Eastman has maintained that he did not enter the Capitol on January 6th, but he was in Washington, DC with the Oath Keepers at a different rally. He blogged about it later, writing: “What did it mean to be in DC on January 6th? It meant being one of only a few from my state who had the opportunity to answer the call of the president and physically stand with him in his final days in office.”
Eastman has served in the State house since 2017. In October of 2021, Eastman’s affiliation with the Oath Keepers leaked online. He explained his membership to KTOO by saying: “I joined the Oath Keepers when it first started and will always consider it a privilege to stand with those in the military and first responders who strive to keep their oaths to the Constitution.”
Thomas tells KTNA that Eastman’s affiliation and open support of the group alone is enough reason for disqualification.
“When you don’t denounce groups that don’t accept the peaceful transfer of power, it just feeds the misinformation and danger to our democracy.”
Thomas says Eastman as a candidate shouldn’t be affiliated with a group that violently protests against the government. He says his biggest concern is that Eastman hasn’t outwardly denounced the Oath Keepers’ actions on January 6th at all.
“He’s never come out against what that group has now become. Instead, he hasn’t distanced himself. That’s my problem. If he had just distanced himself from that and denounced all that in very strong words, I think I would have a completely different view on his eligibility to run.”
No one has appealed the decision yet, though Thomas is considering. Thomas says the next step forward would be some remedy in the courts, though he doesn’t know what it would look like.
For KTNA, I’m Nell Salzman.
