Palmer Mayor Files To Run For State House

;

Palmer Mayor DeLena Johnson has filed a letter of intent with the Alaska Public Offices Commission to run for State House. The move allows Johnson to begin raising money for her campaign.

Johnson joins Palmer City Councilman Richard Best, who filed his letter of intent with APOC last week, in the race for Palmer’s State House seat.

Those two announcements are just the latest, and not likely to be the last, in a series of political moves kicked-off by Sen. Bill Stoltze’s abrupt announcement that he would be retiring and not running for re-election.

That announcement spurred the current occupant of the Palmer State House seat, Rep. Shelley Hughes, to announce last week she would run for his Senate seat.

Hughes’ run for Stolze’s senate seat then left her house  seat open for new candidates such as Best and Johnson, and likely others, to vie for.