Edgar Blatchford (born November 24, 1950) is an American politician, academic, and attorney, and perennial candidate who served as the mayor of
Seward, Alaska
Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approxima ...
. Blatchford sought the
2016 Democratic Party nomination for
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
, losing the nomination in the Alaskan primary to
Ray Metcalfe
Ray Metcalfe (born August 29, 1950) is a politician and political activist in Alaska. Metcalfe has served in the Alaska House of Representatives as a Republican between 1979 and 1983, been active as an activist with the Republican Moderate Party ...
. Blatchford filed to run for lieutenant governor in the
2018 Democratic primary, and dropped out of the race on June 8.
Blatchford has been a professor at the
University of Alaska Anchorage
The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna College, and Pr ...
since 1995, teaching in the Department of Journalism and Public Communications. Blatchford also served as Commissioner of the Department of Community and Regional Affairs (1990–1994) under
Wally Hickel
Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994 and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from ...
and Commissioner of Community and Economic Development (2003–2005) under
Frank Murkowski
Frank Hughes Murkowski (born March 28, 1933) is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006. In his 2006 re ...
.
Early life and education
Blatchford was born in
Nome, Alaska Territory in 1950 and relocated to
Seward, Alaska
Seward (Alutiiq: ; Dena'ina: ''Tl'ubugh'') is an incorporated home rule city in Alaska, United States. Located on Resurrection Bay, a fjord of the Gulf of Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula, Seward is situated on Alaska's southern coast, approxima ...
in 1960. Blatchford graduated from Seward High School and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from
Alaska Pacific University, Juris Doctor from the
University of Washington School of Law
The University of Washington School of Law is the law school of the University of Washington, located on the northwest corner of the main campus in Seattle, Washington.
The 2023 '' U.S. News & World Report'' law school rankings place Wash ...
, Masters of Arts degree in journalism from
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
,
Master of Public Administration from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, and PhD from the
University of Alaska Fairbanks
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for c ...
.
Career
Blatchford founded the publishing company
Alaska Newspapers, Inc. in 1983. In 1990, Blatchford partnered with
Calista Native Corporation to procure a total of six rural Alaskan newspapers. ANI was chartered to serve sparsely populated regions in Alaska to include parts of the Kenai Peninsula, Bristol Bay, Prince William Sound, the Aleutian Islands and the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In 2011, Blatchford purchased The Tundra Drums and Seward Phoenix Log from Calista Corp.; subsequently, Calista liquidated its share in the remaining newspapers in August 2011.
Blatchford worked as a member of
Wally Hickel
Walter Joseph Hickel (August 18, 1919 – May 7, 2010) was an American businessman, real estate developer, and politician who served as the second governor of Alaska from 1966 to 1969 and 1990 to 1994 and as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from ...
's cabinet in developing the Community Development Quotas program aimed at providing educational and vocational opportunities to rural Alaskans in Bristol Bay and other western Alaskan communities.
Blatchford was appointed commissioner of Community and Economic Development in January 2003 by governor Frank Murkowski. Murkowski cited Blatchford's prior experience as commissioner of Community and Regional Affairs under governor Hickel as a prime reason for Blatchford's selection. On July 22, 2005, Blatchford resigned his position as commissioner of Community and Economic Development due to conflict of interest allegations between his official state duties and ties with
Chugach Alaska Corp.
Political positions
Until the 2016 Alaskan Senate race, Blatchford had been affiliated with the Republican Party, switching parties due to ideological reasons. He strongly supports reform of the 1971
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on December 18, 1971, constituting at the time the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve long-standing ...
(ANCSA), saying that it was an experiment that did not accomplish what it was charted to do.
Gun control
Blatchford is an advocate of background checks for gun ownership and states that his stance is in line with the intent of the
Second Amendment
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
.
Illegal immigration
Blatchford supports a path for citizenship or other legal status for those illegal immigrants without criminal records.
Alaskan economy
Blatchford believes smaller Alaskan communities would benefit from a more diverse economic base.
Climate change
Blatchford believes
global warming
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
is a scientific certainty that must be addressed. He wants Alaska to increase its prominence in studying climate change and the Arctic.
Bibliography
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References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blatchford, Edgar
1952 births
Alaska Democrats
Alaska Pacific University alumni
American newspaper publishers (people)
Businesspeople from Alaska
Candidates in the 2020 United States Senate elections
Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections
Candidates in the 2022 United States elections
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Living people
Mayors of places in Alaska
State cabinet secretaries of Alaska
University of Alaska Fairbanks alumni
University of Washington School of Law alumni