Savannah Fletcher is running to represent Senate District R as an undeclared candidate.
Fletcher was born in New York, New York, and grew on Whidbey Island, Washington. Her family owns a blueberry farm, and she said her father instilled in her values to treat everyone with respect and a high regard for equality.
She played volleyball at Columbia University and majored in english and archeology. After graduating, she worked as an archeologist for the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service in Arizona. She earned a master’s in environment and resources from Stanford University and a J.D. from Stanford Law School in 2018.
She lived in Juneau in 2017 and moved to Alaska after finishing law school. She moved to Fairbanks in 2018 to work as a law clerk for Alaska Supreme Court Justice Susan Carney. She represented Tanana Chiefs Conference tribes in their Indian Child Welfare Act cases for Alaska Legal Services Corp. for three years and now works as a civil rights attorney for Northern Justice Project. She said that she has a “desire to see justice for our community,” and that her work has deepened her understanding of the hardships people go through.
Fletcher was elected to the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly in 2021 where she served as presiding officer.
She is a founding board member of Fairbanks HopeLink and is a member of the Alaska Bar Association.
Her top priorities are education, affordable and reliable energy, subsistence and strong fisheries and working with a bipartisan majority.
She is married to Clay Venetis and they have a son, Elio. She enjoys volleyball, basketball, biking, baking and board games.
What should the state’s budget priorities be?
The government’s most basic responsibility is to promote public safety. That means everything from ensuring we have adequately staffed law enforcement, to making sure our highways are safe. It’s the responsibility of the state to ensure Alaskan students have access to great public schools. We need to do more to live up to that obligation. It’s also critically important that the state makes investments in infrastructure and energy to reduce costs for families and businesses. There are billions of federal dollars on the table that could go towards bringing cheaper energy to Interior homes and upgrading our infrastructure. We need to take advantage of this opportunity.
Education funding was a top concern in the state last session. How would you support education at the state level?
Over the last decade, the budget of almost every single department has been adjusted to account for inflation. The big exception: public schools. As costs have increased steadily, the funding for schools has not kept up. We are witnessing the consequences: closed schools, program cuts, and some classrooms now have over 35 kids with one teacher (and no support staff). We’re struggling to attract educators, and more keep leaving. Our current State Senator Click Bishop was one of several Republicans that joined Independents and Democrats to support an increase to school funding to account for inflation. Unfortunately, their effort fell short by one vote – the vote cast by my opponent to oppose school funding. The future of our communities depend on good schools. I will be a voice for Interior students and support our schools with additional funding and programs to improve outcomes, such as literacy and behavioral aids.
What steps can the state take to support available housing?
There is not enough housing development in Alaska, and the existing housing stock is deteriorating. I support weatherization programs that improve the quality of existing housing. But ultimately, to reduce overcrowding and bring down housing costs, we need to see more housing built in the Interior. Alaska needs 27,500 new and rehabilitated homes over the next ten years to make a meaningful dent in the affordability and housing availability crisis. There is some new, exciting work being done like Housing Alaskans, a public-private partnership to build more affordable housing across rural Alaska. My opponent voted against investing in that work. I would support it, and promote new projects in Interior Alaska.
What role do national culture war topics have in the Alaska Legislature?
None. Let’s focus on doing the urgent work of solving problems for Alaskans. Improving our schools, reducing the cost of living, and turning around the decline in salmon.
How would you work across the aisle with other lawmakers? Would you join a bipartisan coalition?
Most Alaskans don’t know that our State Senate has been governed by a coalition of half Democrats and half Republicans. They have put differences aside and focused on getting work done. There’s nothing like it in the rest of the country, and it gives me a lot of hope. I would absolutely join this bipartisan coalition. That has always been my approach, and that’s why I’m an Independent.
How should the state address outmigration and make Alaska more attractive to potential residents?
To keep families in the Interior, we need good schools, we need to lower the cost of living, and we need to make this a place where people continue to see opportunity for themselves and their families. That starts with investing in our schools and new energy development. We then need to support more childcare, elder care, and public safety. Lastly, we need to work to ensure families can receive the medical care they need here in the Interior, and don’t have to fly to Anchorage or the Lower 48 to get the care they need.
With a shortage of available natural gas in Cook Inlet and the lack of a pipeline to the North Slope, how would you address high energy costs in the Interior?
It’s unacceptable that such an energy-rich state is now looking to import natural gas. I will strongly champion any measure that brings reliable and affordable energy, from Alaska for Alaskans. Serving on the Borough Assembly, I supported a program to connect more borough homes to natural gas with IGU. We have to do more to make connecting to natural gas affordable. On the individual home level, I am eager to support more programs to dry wood so folks can reliably heat their homes with dry, quality wood. And I will support weatherization programs to reduce our energy needs to heat our homes. At a statewide level, we need to continue to modernize our electric grid and bring new energy sources online.
What are your thoughts on ranked choice voting?
The most important part of our current election system is the Open Primary. I know so many people that in the 2022 Primary voted for Mary Peltola for Congress and Lisa Murkowski for Senate. That would not have been possible under our old system, where political parties controlled the primary election.
Our rank choice voting system holds candidates accountable to all Alaskans and requires that we speak with everyone to try and earn their vote. This means extremist candidates are less likely to win, and centrist candidates willing to work for all Alaskans are more likely to be elected. That system strikes me as more reflective of our diverse state.
What would you do to foster a northern rail extension?
The Northern Rail Extension would bring economic development, lower costs, and more safe transportation options to the Interior. I will champion this project. I would use my position as State Senator to build broader support, identify funding opportunities and federal partnership opportunities, and help clear roadblocks. My background as an attorney will help me to understand and work through land ownership challenges, jurisdictional conflicts, and permitting needs.