Cathy Giessel
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Catherine Andrea Giessel, (née Bohms; born November 9, 1951)''The 1970 Cache'' (Lathrop High School yearbook), p. 31 is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of
Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
, who has served as a member of the
Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gub ...
since 2023 and from 2011 to 2021. From 2013 to 2021, Giessel represented District N in the
Alaska Senate The Alaska State Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gub ...
, including Northeast Anchorage, Anchorage Hillside and the Turnagain Arm communities of
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, Girdwood,
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, and
Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...
, all within the
Municipality of Anchorage A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
. First elected in 2010 while identifying with
Tea Party A tea party is a social gathering event held in the afternoon. For centuries, many societies have cherished drinking tea with a company at noon. Tea parties are considered for formal business meetings, social celebrations or just as an afternoon ...
values, she has also served as the vice-chair of the state Republican Party and had a career in nursing. Following
redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...
, she was elected to a different senate seat in 2012. Giessel serves as chair of the Resources Committee and is a member of the Senate Majority Caucus. After Senate President Pete Kelly was unseated in 2018, Giessel was elected president of the Alaska Senate, a post she held until 2021. Giessel returned to the Alaska Senate in 2023, representing the newly configured District E after defeating incumbent Republican Roger Holland. She will serve as Senate majority leader in the 33rd Legislature, overseeing a coalition caucus of eight Republicans and nine Democrats.


Early life and career

Cathy Giessel was born Catherine Andrea Bohms in
Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...
, on November 9, 1951, the oldest of three daughters (and four children overall) born to Gerald Johnson "Jerry" (1924–2002) and Ruth Odelia (née Bauer, born 1927) Bohms. Jerry Bohms arrived in Alaska in the late 1940s and worked for Wien Alaska Airlines (a predecessor to Wien Air Alaska). Ruth Bohms holds a degree from
Gonzaga University School of Law The Gonzaga University School of Law (also known as Gonzaga Law or GU Law) is the professional school for the study of law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Established in 1912, the Jesuit-affiliated law school has been fully accredi ...
and was admitted before the bars of Alaska and the
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. Ruth Bohms was a candidate for the Alaska Legislature in 1992, running as an Alaskan Independence Party candidate for a Fairbanks-based seat in the Alaska House of Representatives. Giessel graduated from Lathrop High School in Fairbanks and thereafter gained a
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in nursing from the
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before moving to Anchorage in 1974. She worked as an advanced nurse practitioner across a variety of clinics in Anchorage and the
North Slope Borough The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest city i ...
and continues to do healthcare consulting, and gained a master's degree in nursing from 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 Prin ...
in 2000. She has been on the Alaska Board of Nursing, serving five years as its chairperson, and also on the Alaska Healthcare Strategy Planning Council. In 2010, she was named an 'exceptional leader' by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.


Political involvement

Before gaining her Senate seat, Giessel served on
Sean Parnell Sean Randall Parnell (born November 19, 1962) is an American attorney and politician. He succeeded Sarah Palin in July 2009 to become the tenth governor of Alaska and served until 2014.Don Young Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from the state of Alaska. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving Republican in congressional history, having been the U.S. representative for for ...
during the Republican primary for Alaska's congressional seat in 2008.


Alaska Senate


2016: Senate District N election

Giessel was up for reelection in 2016. Due to all the previous issues resulting from redistricting, this would be the first time Giessel was eligible to have a 4-year term. Giessel's initial Democratic challenger, local non-profit executive and advocate Hilary Morgan, dropped out of the senate race early in 2016. Shortly before the filing deadline, longtime registered Democrat and President of the Alaska AFL-CIO, Vince Beltrami emerged, filing to run as an independent. The race became one of the most expensive state senate races in Alaska history. Giessel won the November general election, defeating challenger Vince Beltrami, 51.90% to 47.57%. Giessel again campaigned on positions strongly supporting natural resource development, diversified economic development, right-sizing Alaska state government, the creation of a comprehensive plan to the state government's budget challenges, and again supported more school choice options for parents of K-12 students. Due to the continued budget shortfall, further reductions in state spending continued as a top priority for the new senate majority caucus. Other priorities of the caucus are plans to implement a state spending limit into law and review of formula driven programs to make additional reforms to the state's most costly programs to get the state budget under control. Committee assignments * Resources (chair) * Special Committee on Arctic Policy (chair) * Health and Social Services * State Affairs * Education * Legislative Budget and Audit * Legislative Council (alternate) * Finance Subcommittee ** Environmental Conservation ** Health & Social Services ** Natural Resources


Caucus memberships

* In-state Gas Caucus * Outdoor Heritage Caucus


2014: Senate District N election

Though elected in 2012 following redistricting, a challenge to the newly drawn districts caused Giessel to be up for reelection again in 2014. Giessel won the November general election, defeating Democratic challenger Harry Crawford Jr., 54.7% to 44.97%. This time Giessel was elected to a 2-year seat that would be up again for reelection in 2016. Giessel campaigned on the position of pro natural resource development, in-state gasline development, diversified economic development and supported more school choice options for parents of
K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993, well known worldwide mainly for its heavyweight division fights and Grand Prix tournaments. In January 2012, K-1 Global Holdings Limited, a company registered in Hong Kong, acquired ...
students. Due to the sharp fall of oil prices and Alaska's ensuing fiscal gap in 2015, the budget and curbing state spending became top priorities for the new senate majority caucus. Education funding was another top priority for the caucus as well.


Committee assignments

* Resources (chair) * Special Committee on Arctic Policy (co-chair) * Health and Social Services (vice-chair) * Labor and Commerce (vice-chair) * Education * Legislative Budget and Audit * Finance Subcommittee ** Environmental Conservation ** Health & Social Services ** Natural Resources


Caucus memberships

* In-state Gas Caucus * Outdoor Heritage Caucus


2012: Senate District N election

Though elected in 2010 to serve a four-year term, redistricting led to her being up for election again in 2012 for a new senate seat serving District N. In the August Republican primary, Giessel defeated challenger Joe Arness by 67%. She won the November general election, defeating
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Ron Devon, the husband of '' Mudflats'' author Jeanne Devon, 58.8% to 40.7%. She campaigned on the position of pro natural resource development, in-state gasline development, increased economic development, and oil tax reform. Increasing oil production through oil tax reform was a decisive issue during the 2012 election and became top priority for the new senate majority caucus that was formed subsequently. Giessel was appointed to chair the Senate Resources committee which moved Governor Parnell's oil tax reform legislation and advanced the Alaska Stand-Alone Pipeline project.


Committee assignments

* Resources (chair) * Community and Regional Affairs (vice-chair) * State Affairs (vice-chair) * Administrative Regulatory Review (vice-chair) * Legislative Budget and Audit * Legislative Ethics * Alaska Arctic Policy Commission * Finance Subcommittee ** Environmental Conservation ** Natural Resources ** Labor & Workforce Development


Caucus memberships

* In-state Gas Caucus * Outdoor Heritage Caucus


2010: Senate District P election

Giessel ran for the Senate District P seat in 2010 when Republican incumbent
Con Bunde Conley Ralph "Con" Bunde (born August 4, 1938) was an American educator and politician. He was born in Mankato, Minnesota. Bunde graduated from Mankato High School in 1956. He then served in the United States Army for three years. Bunde received h ...
retired after 18 years in the legislature, the last eight in the Senate. She faced two moderates in her party primary: Anchorage
assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
woman Jennifer Johnston and cardiologist Mark Moronell. Taking advantage of the split in the moderate vote she won her party's nomination for the general election – 46% over 28% for Moronell and 25% for Johnston. The '' Alaska Dispatch'', referred to the district election "as hat seems to bethe most important legislative race this year." Giessel identified herself with Tea Party ideals but did not consider herself a Tea Party candidate. In the November election, she beat Democrat Janet Reiser and independent conservative Phil Dziubinski 49% to 39% and 12% respectively. Dziubinski, who had recently retired from a career working for BP, spent over $150,000 of his own money on his campaign. During her freshman term, Giessel served on the Senate committees on labor & commerce, state affairs, the finance subcommittee on the legislature, and was a member of the Joint In-State Gas Caucus. She aligned herself with the 'Senate Minority' caucus: a grouping of Republican senators who rejected the dominant bipartisan 'Senate Majority' caucus.


Committee assignments

* Senate Committee on Labor and Commerce * Senate Committee on State Affairs * Senate Finance subcommittee on the Legislature


Caucus memberships

* Joint Legislative In-State Gas Caucus * Joint Legislative Outdoor Heritage Caucus * Anchorage Caucus


Political positions

In response to a questionnaire sent by the Alaska Family Action group, Giessel conveyed pro-life viewpoints, constitutional limits on benefits for same-sex couples and legislative blocks on the expansion of gambling excepting a referendum. In the 2011 mid-term Alaska Business Report Card (a grading system run by several Alaska business coalitions judging state officials on how favorable they are to the business community) Giessel received an A+, the only senator to receive the highest grade, and only one of five state legislators in both houses.


National involvement

In 2013, Giessel was appointed to chair the Energy Producing States Coalition (EPSC), a bipartisan group of legislators across 10 states that focuses on energy and transmission development issues. Following a decision by the
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to withhold $110 million in federal mineral revenue sharing payments because of sequestration, the EPSC issued a letter to the
House Energy and Commerce Committee The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than ...
leadership denouncing the act, which Giessel signed on to.


Personal life

Giessel is married to Richard and has three children and several grandchildren. She is a member of both the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
– which has endorsed her run for re-election and the
Second Amendment Sisters Second Amendment Sisters, Inc. (SAS) was a United States women's gun rights advocacy group that supported gun use for self defense and empowerment. According to a 2003 ''Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times ...
. She received the Anchorage Republican Woman of the Year award in 2007.


References


External links


Sen. Giessel Profile - Alaska Senate Majority Site

Cathy Giessel
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Giessel, Cathy 1951 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American women nurses Living people Nurses from Alaska Politicians from Anchorage, Alaska Politicians from Fairbanks, Alaska Presidents of the Alaska Senate Republican Party Alaska state senators University of Alaska Anchorage alumni University of Michigan School of Nursing alumni Women state legislators in Alaska