LETTER: Candidates extend heartfelt thanks to supporters

Published 3:30 am Monday, August 24, 2026

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

To every person who believed in us, volunteered, donated, shared a post, put up a sign, made a call, sent a text, offered advice, opened a door, or simply told us to keep going, we will never forget it.

We entered this race late. We knew exactly what that meant. The odds were against us, the clock was already running, and we had a tremendous amount of ground to cover.

But we made a decision early on: if we were going to do this, we were going to give it everything we had.

And we did.

We left it all on the field.

Of course, we wanted to win. But this campaign was always about something bigger than one election. We wanted to put forward a different kind of message: that Alaska doesn’t have to settle. That experience still matters. That leadership can listen. That good ideas don’t belong to one political party. And that we can disagree without treating one another as enemies.

We wanted to remind Alaskans that there is still room for independent thinking, practical solutions, courage, optimism, and a genuine willingness to bring people together.

That message was delivered.

And because of all of you, it was heard across Alaska.

What we built in such a short period of time was extraordinary. Relationships were formed. Conversations were started. People who had felt politically homeless told us they finally saw something they could believe in again.

So while this chapter ends, the idea behind it does not.

To everyone who took this journey with us, thank you for your faith, your friendship, your work, your encouragement, and your belief that Alaska’s best days can still be ahead of us. We are deeply grateful.

We have a lot of work to do, Alaska. And we’re just getting started.

Lesil McGuire and Sara Rasmussen were Republican candidates for governor and lieutenant governor.