The battle for a red state House district just east of Fairbanks is attracting the big bucks, compared to neighboring legislative races.
Alaska House District 34 incumbent Republican Rep. Frank Tomaszewski decided to run for Alaska Senate right before the June 1 deadline, and the well-funded race to replace him is pitting the incumbent’s spouse against the candidate who lost to him in 2024. Independent Joy Beth Cottle ran as a Republican two years ago in an unsuccessful bid to represent the Fox, Pleasant Valley, Eielson Air Force Base and Salcha areas.
The House district has leaned red, and leaned Tomaszeski, following redistricting four years ago. Tomaszeski beat former Democratic state lawmaker and current Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins for the seat in 2022. Voters elected him again over Cottle, then running as a moderate Republican, in 2024. That year, the Trump/Vance ticket got 58% of the vote in House District 34, according to Alaska Division of Elections data.
This time around, though, Cottle dropped the GOP affiliation.
“I think the partisan politics in Juneau is not serving Alaskans. And we could get a lot more done if some of that was out of the picture, and we could just focus on the problems,” she said in a brief phone interview Monday.
Tomaszewski has been caucusing with the 19-member all-Republican House minority in the Alaska House. Cottle, a fire captain at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said she wouldn’t yet commit to joining a bipartisan majority, like the 21-member one that exists right now. But she said she’d be open to it, if elected.
Cottle puts passing a retirement bill aimed at attracting and retaining Alaskan workers and families among her top priorities. The Alaska Legislature passed House majority-backed legislation in April to reinstate a pension for Alaska public employees and school teachers, but Gov. Mike Dunleavy vetoed it in May, and an override vote failed.
Cottle is competing in a two-way race with birch syrup small business owner Republican Harmony Tomaszeski, who’s also the incumbent’s wife. A third candidate, Republican John Anderson, withdrew from the race.
Campaign finance reports show the two remaining candidates’ combined haul of roughly $95,000 so far is dwarfing that of the half-dozen other legislative races in the Fairbanks and North Pole area. Cottle, who began her campaign months earlier, has pulled in about two-thirds of that total.
Disclosures filed July 20 show Cottle brought in almost $47,000 in the latest five-month reporting period alone, adding to about $18,000 from earlier fundraising that dates back to late last year. Harmony Tomaszeksi has raked in a little more than $30,000 since beginning her campaign in June. None of the six other races that reach into the Interior’s urban core – which include Senate District Q and House Districts 31, 32, 33, 35 and 36 – have broken the $60,000 mark in combined fundraising. Cottle and Tomaszeski have also reported campaign expenditures triple that of the next closest Fairbanks- and North Pole-area race.
Cottle noted she’s got the backing of several unions, which have collectively donated thousands to her campaign. But she said controversy might also be part of what’s causing money to flow into the race.
“I know there’s a lot of people – journalists and people in the district – who have opinions about the last-minute filing with Robb, Robb Myers and Frank, and the switchup,” she said.
Frank Tomaszeski filed for Senate District Q the day of the June filing deadline, the same day incumbent GOP Sen. Robb Myers announced he was retiring from the Legislature. That’s also when Harmony Tomaszeski signed on to compete against Cottle, in a last-minute move that got the attention of opponents and drew criticism from some Alaska political writers.
Reached by phone Monday, Harmony Tomaszewski said she was not available for an interview. In response to a written question about whether she thinks there’s a relationship between campaign finances and how she entered the race, she said it’s an open seat, so it’s “receiving a lot of attention.”
“I can’t speak to why each person chose to contribute,” she said in response to a follow up question. “From the conversations I’ve had, people are supporting my campaign because of my experience, my record of service to the community, and the issues I’m focused on.”
Asked how she’d caucus, she wrote that she would “work across the aisle where we have common ground,” but would not join a coalition that supports taxes or raises energy costs.
Energy affordability is key to the platforms of the House District 34 candidates – and many Interior Alaska political hopefuls. Interior Railbelt utility Golden Valley Electric Association hiked residential rates in May by an estimated $46 on average, and data from the nonprofit research group Council for Community and Economic Research show Fairbanks utility costs in 2025 were 113% higher than average among 257 metropolitan areas surveyed nationwide.
Tomaszewski, who lost in a race for a GVEA Board of Directors in 2024, said she supports “lowering energy costs through responsible resource development, the gas line, hydropower expansion, stronger transmission infrastructure, and more.”
Cottle said by email later Monday that energy generation in the Interior needs to diversify, and that she’d support efforts to stabilize the grid through renewable energy system incentives.
“Even if we are fortunate enough to see this gas line project move forward with a spur line to Fairbanks, impacts to our high electrical costs won't be seen for many years and we need to invest in both long and short-term energy relief,” she wrote.
Both candidates are set to advance past Alaska’s Aug. 18 nonpartisan primary, since there are fewer than four candidates in the District 34 race. The top four vote-getters in primary races go on to the November general election.