List of governors of Alaska

The governor of Alaska is the head of state of Alaska and the head of the executive of the state government. The Governor is the chief executive of the state and is the holder of the highest office in the executive branch of the government as well as being the commander in chief of the Alaska’s state forces.

Twelve people have served as governor of the State of Alaska over 14 distinct terms, though Alaska had over 30 civilian and military governors during its long history as a United States territory. Only two governors, William A. Egan and Bill Walker, were born in Alaska. Two people, Egan and Wally Hickel, have been elected to multiple non-consecutive terms as governor. Hickel is also noted for a rare third party win in American politics, having been elected to a term in 1990 representing the Alaskan Independence Party. The longest-serving governor of the state was Egan, who was elected three times and served nearly 12 years. The longest-serving territorial governor was Ernest Gruening, who served 13½ years.

The current governor is Republican Mike Dunleavy, who took office on December 3, 2018.

Governors before statehood

Alaska was purchased by the United States from the Russian Empire in 1867, with formal transfer occurring on October 18, 1867,which is now celebrated as Alaska Day. Before then, it was known as Russian America or Russian Alaska, controlled by the governors and general managers of the Russian-American Company.

Commanders of the Department of Alaska

The vast region was initially designated the Department of Alaska, under the jurisdiction of the Department of War and administered by the U.S. Army officers until 1877, when the Army was withdrawn from Alaska. The Department of the Treasury then took control, with the Collector of Customs as the highest ranking federal official in the territory. In 1879, the U.S. Navy was given jurisdiction over the department.

Some believe the first American administrator of Alaska was Polish immigrant Włodzimierz Krzyżanowski. However, the Anchorage Daily News was unable to find any conclusive information to support this claim.

Chief federal officers of the Department of Alaska

No.	Commander		Position	Term in office
1		Jefferson C. Davis	Army Colonel	October 18, 1867 – August 31, 1870
2		George K. Brady	Army Captain	September 1, 1870 – September 22, 1870
3		John C. Tidball	Army Major	September 23, 1870 – September 19, 1871
4		Harvey A. Allen	Army Major	September 20, 1871 – January 3, 1873
5		Joseph Stewart	Army Major	January 4, 1873 – April 20, 1874
6		George B. Rodney Jr.	Army Captain	April 21, 1874 – August 16, 1874
7		Joseph B. Campbell	Army Captain	August 17, 1874 – June 14, 1876
8		John Mendenhall	Army Major	June 15, 1876 – March 4, 1877
9		Arthur Morris	Army Captain	March 5, 1877 – June 14, 1877
10		Montgomery P. Berry	Collector of Customs	June 14, 1877 – August 13, 1877
11		Henry Charles DeAhna	Collector of Customs	August 14, 1877 – March 26, 1878
12		M. D. Ball	Collector of Customs	March 27, 1878 – June 13, 1879
13		Lester A. Beardslee	Navy Captain	June 14, 1879 – September 12, 1880
14		Henry Glass	Navy Commander	September 13, 1880 – August 9, 1881
15		Edward P. Lull	Navy Commander	August 10, 1881 – October 18, 1881
16		Henry Glass	Navy Commander	October 19, 1881 – March 12, 1882
17		Frederick Pearson	Navy Commander	March 13, 1882 – October 3, 1882
18		Edgar C. Merriman	Navy Commander	October 4, 1882 – September 13, 1883
19		Joseph Coghlan	Navy Commander	September 15, 1883 – September 13, 1884
20		Henry E. Nichols	Navy Lieutenant commander	September 14, 1884 – September 15, 1884

Governors of the District of Alaska

On May 17, 1884, the Department of Alaska was redesignated the District of Alaska, an incorporated but unorganized territory with a civil government. The governor was appointed by the president of the United States.

Governors of the District of Alaska

No.	Governor		Term in office	Appointed by
1		John Henry Kinkead	July 4, 1884 – May 7, 1885	Chester A. Arthur
2		Alfred P. Swineford	May 7, 1885 – April 20, 1889	Grover Cleveland
3		Lyman Enos Knapp	April 20, 1889 – June 18, 1893	Benjamin Harrison
4		James Sheakley	June 18, 1893 – June 23, 1897	Grover Cleveland
5		John Green Brady	June 23, 1897 – March 2, 1906	William McKinley
6		Wilford Bacon Hoggatt	March 10, 1906 – May 20, 1909	Theodore Roosevelt
7		Walter Eli Clark	May 20, 1909 – August 24, 1912	William Howard Taft

Governors of the Territory of Alaska

The District of Alaska was organized into Alaska Territory on August 24, 1912. Governors continued to be appointed by the president of the United States.

Governors of the Territory of Alaska

No.	Portrait		Term in office	Appointed by
1		Walter Eli Clark	August 24, 1912 – April 18, 1913	William Howard Taft
2		John Franklin Alexander Strong	April 18, 1913 – April 12, 1918	Woodrow Wilson
3		Thomas Riggs Jr.	April 12, 1918 – June 16, 1921
4		Scott Cordelle Bone	June 16, 1921 – August 16, 1925	Warren G. Harding
5		George Alexander Parks	August 16, 1925 – April 19, 1933	Calvin Coolidge
6		John Weir Troy	April 19, 1933 – December 6, 1939	Franklin D. Roosevelt
7		Ernest Gruening	December 6, 1939 – April 10, 1953
8		B. Frank Heintzleman	April 10, 1953 – January 3, 1957	Dwight D. Eisenhower
—		Waino Hendrickson	January 3, 1957 – April 8, 1957	Acting
9		Mike Stepovich	April 8, 1957 – August 9, 1958	Dwight D. Eisenhower
—		Waino Hendrickson	August 9, 1958 – January 3, 1959	Acting

Governors of the State of Alaska

Alaska was admitted to the Union on January 3, 1959.

The state constitution provides for the election of a governor and lieutenant governor every four years on the same ticket, with their terms commencing on the first Monday in the December following the election. Governors are allowed to succeed themselves once, having to wait four years after their second term in a row before being allowed to run again. Should the office of governor become vacant, the lieutenant governor assumes the office of governor. The original constitution of 1956 created the office of secretary of state, which was functionally identical to a lieutenant governor, and was renamed to “lieutenant governor” in 1970.

Governors of the State of Alaska

No.	Governor			Term in office	Party	Election	Lt. Governor
1			William A. Egan	January 3, 1959 – 5-Dec-66 (lost election)	Democratic	1958		Hugh Wade
						1962
2			Wally Hickel	December 5, 1966 – 29-Jan-69 (resigned)	Republican	1966		Keith Harvey Miller
3			Keith Harvey Miller	January 29, 1969 – 7-Dec-70 (lost election)	Republican	Succeeded from Secretary of State		Robert W. Ward
1			William A. Egan	December 7, 1970 – 2-Dec-74 (lost election)	Democratic	1970		H. A. Boucher
4			Jay Hammond	December 2, 1974 – 6-Dec-82 (term limited)	Republican	1974		Lowell Thomas Jr.
						1978		Terry Miller
5			Bill Sheffield	December 6, 1982 – 1-Dec-86 (lost renomination)	Democratic	1982		Steve McAlpine
6			Steve Cowper	December 1, 1986 – 3-Dec-90 (not candidate for election)	Democratic	1986
2			Wally Hickel	December 3, 1990 – 5-Dec-94 (not candidate for election)	Alaskan Independence	1990		Jack Coghill
7			Tony Knowles	December 5, 1994 – 2-Dec-02 (term limited)	Democratic	1994		Fran Ulmer
						1998
8			Frank Murkowski	December 2, 2002 – 4-Dec-06 (lost renomination)	Republican	2002		Loren Leman
9			Sarah Palin	December 4, 2006 – 26-Jul-09 (resigned)	Republican	2006		Sean Parnell
10			Sean Parnell	July 26, 2009 – 1-Dec-14 (lost election)	Republican	Succeeded from Lieutenant Governor	Vacant
								Craig Campbell (took office August 10, 2009)
						2010		Mead Treadwell
11			Bill Walker	December 1, 2014 – 3-Dec-18 (withdrew from election)	Independent	2014		Byron Mallott (resigned October 16, 2018)
								Valerie Davidson
12			Mike Dunleavy	December 3, 2018 – present	Republican	2018		Kevin Meyer