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Micciche named new Senate president

Gavel Alaska

The Alaska Senate reconvened in Juneau today and unanimously chose Soldotna Republican Sen. Peter Micciche as its president.

 

Micciche is calling the Republican majority leadership the “Caucus of Equals.”

“We are actually going to reach out to everyone involved, and remember we have 13 Republicans right now but we’re trying to grow the group," he said. "We’ve reached out across the aisle as well to see what’s important to them, how we can work together.”

Senate Republicans almost didn’t organize in time for the start of the session. Split on their differences, the group struggled to unite, leaving open the possibility that Senate Democrats would form a bipartisan majority.

But the Republicans finally organized today, just in time for the start of the session. 

“If you kind of watch things the last couple years, I kind of saw people being marginalized and people being separated, not really willing to work together on different issues," Micciche said. "And it kind of soured the experience for a lot of constituents around the state that watched their representatives get nudged out of the way.”

Micciche said this Senate will do more outreach around the state.

“What you’re going to see us doing is popping the Juneau bubble," he said.

The Alaska House, on the other hand, is still without a president. Both the House and Senate will hold floor sessions tomorrow.

Andrew Kitchenman at KTOO contributed reporting.

Sabine Poux is a producer and reporter for the Brave Little State podcast of Vermont Public. She was formerly news director and evening news host at KDLL in Kenai.

Originally from New York, Sabine has lived and reported in Argentina and Vermont and Kenai.
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