Fuel oil in Bill Hill’s community jumped from about $6.70 per gallon to about $9 after a barge shipment arrived earlier this year. The remote fishing community has about 430 people, and Hill says fuel prices and the overall cost of living top the concerns he hears from Alaskans. He’s challenging Republican Nick Begich for Alaska’s only U.S. House seat, as national party figures and political action committees work to keep Republicans’ House majority.
At Hill’s Juneau campaign event, voter Steve Davis called him authentic and a “really good dude.” Davis said he wants Congress to reclaim its oversight role. Retired economics professor Bill Brown, another attendee, said policy mattered, but he was “most interested in the integrity of the candidate. Bill Hill convinced me on that issue.”
The costs carried at home
Earlier this year, Hill said, his community ran out of fuel oil. He flew home, pumped oil from the textile manufacturing business he runs with his wife, and brought it back to their house in a barrel. Prices have climbed elsewhere, too, particularly in communities reachable only by air or water. Hill’s campaign has posted fuel prices around the state while criticizing Begich’s support for the Iran war.
Hill is a 57-year-old fisherman from Bristol Bay, a retired teacher and school administrator, and Dena’ina Athabascan. He grew up in a tiny southwest Alaska village where, he said, his family had no phone and hauled water from a nearby lake for cooking and bathing. This summer, he paused his campaign during Alaska’s primary season to return home for the start of the world’s biggest sockeye salmon run. “I told my team that I have got to fish,” Hill said. “Commercial fishing is the way that we pay the bills.”
Affordability and pushing back against billionaires anchor his campaign. At a Juneau event this week, wearing jeans, a zip-up vest and a cap bearing a fishing company logo, Hill said, “We are pedal to the metal, making sure that every Alaskan knows about this campaign, every Alaskan knows what we stand for and every Alaskan knows that it’s really one of them going to Congress.” Then he asked attendees to help get him there.
National power enters the race
Vice President JD Vance held a rally this week for Begich and Dan Sullivan, the U.S. senator also facing a tight reelection race. President Donald Trump plans to hold another rally in the coming week. Since the primary, Begich and Republican political action committees have stepped up ad spending. In early August, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., held a rally for Begich that reporters couldn’t attend.
National groups involved include the National Republican Congressional Committee and House Majority PAC, which seeks to flip the House to Democrats. Trump has pointed to Begich’s support for his signature package of tax breaks, social service cuts and immigration enforcement, passed last year. Trump plans to headline a rally Tuesday in Wasilla, Sarah Palin’s hometown.
Begich is running for a second term and has aligned himself with Trump. His family has long figured in Alaska politics: his late grandfather held the state’s only U.S. House seat, and his uncle Mark was a U.S. senator. Zach Bannon, an NRCC spokesperson, said Begich had delivered “commonsense wins for Alaska,” including support for expanded oil and gas development. Bannon called Hill a “far-left Democrat.” Begich’s campaign didn’t respond to messages.
A ballot shaped by parties and money
Hill’s campaign says he has traveled more than 20,000 miles in Alaska by plane, ferry and all-terrain vehicle to meet voters. The Alaska Democratic Party has endorsed him, though Hill says he is a lifelong independent and won’t be beholden to a “party boss” or party line. His earlier reluctance to say which party he would caucus with if elected rankled some voters. He says he’s willing to work with anyone on what is best for Alaska.
Hill has called for bans on congressional stock trading and limits on money’s influence in elections. He said he “can be a big part of a small group that makes big changes.” His campaign is unfolding in a race where national groups are spending, party leaders are holding rallies and voters will use ranked voting in the general election on Nov. 3.
The field itself brings another complication. One Democrat suspended his campaign before the August open primary and endorsed Hill; two other Democrats with virtually no name recognition withdrew after the primary despite being in line to advance. Eric Hafner, registered as a Democrat, remains in the top four and received 3.8% of the vote, enough to qualify for the ranked-vote general election. He has no apparent ties to Alaska and is incarcerated in New York. His candidate biography in state election materials doesn’t mention that he is serving time in federal prison for making threats against police officers, judges and others. Hill’s campaign circulated stickers showing Hafner in an orange jumpsuit and calling him a “fake ‘Democrat.’” “We want to make sure that the Alaskan people are well-informed,” Hill said.