Local plumber J.T. McComas-Roe says he’s reviving his campaign for Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, just after announcing its suspension.
McComas-Roe told voters at the Interior Taxpayers Association forum last Tuesday that he had “grossly underestimated” the amount of time the campaign would take. He also said selling himself to people sounded “most disagreeable” to him, and then he left the event.
But McComas-Roe told KUAC Sunday that, the morning after the forum, he woke up to a number of messages from people asking him to reconsider, which convinced him to stay in the mix.
But he said, although holding office would be in his wheelhouse, campaigning still doesn’t sound appealing.
“It’s the job to get the job,” he told KUAC. “And I may not be looking forward to it, but I’m going to do it. And I’m just going to have to take the lumps that come with it.”
McComas-Roe said at the forum last week that he planned to return funds to people who’d contributed to his bid for local office. He said Sunday that he thinks he has since contacted all those contributors to see if they wanted their money back, and all have agreed to let him keep it for campaigning.
McComas-Roe’s decision to rejoin the race to replace Mindy O’Neall, who is terming out, means three candidates are back to actively pursuing the assembly seat. The contest also includes veterinarian Jeanne Olson and elementary school teacher Garrett Armstrong.