Donald Olson

Democratic Party

Alaska State Senate District T

Tenure

2001 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

25

Compensation

Base salary

$84,000/year

Per diem

Non-Juneau legislators receive a per diem of $307 per day; Juneau legislators receive none.

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Minnesota, Duluth

M.D.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks

Personal

Profession

Aviation Medical Examiner

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Personal Facebook

Donald Olson (Democratic Party) (also known as Donny) is a member of theAlaska State Senate, representingDistrict T. He assumed office in 2001. His current term ends on January 16, 2029.

Olson (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to theAlaska State Senate to representDistrict T. He won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.

Olson was appointed to the Alaska State Medical Board in 1995.

Biography

Olson earned his B.A. in chemistry at the University of Minnesota, Duluth and his M.D. from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He has also attended the University of Colorado School of Law and Cambridge University. He has also received an Airline Transport Pilot License; Commercial License; Airplane & Helicopters, Airframe & Power Plant Mechanics License as well as an Inspector Authorization.

Committee assignments

2025-2026

Olson was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee
• Senate Finance Committee,Co-Chair
• Special Committee on the Arctic
• Senate World Trade Committee

2023-2024

Olson was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Community & Regional Affairs Committee,Vice Chair
• Senate Finance Committee,Co-Chair
• Select Committee on Legislative Ethics _(decommissioned),Alternate
• Legislative Council Committee

2021-2022

Olson was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Finance Committee

2019-2020

Olson was assigned to the following committees:

• Senate Finance Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Olson served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Olson served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Olson served on these committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Olson served on these committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Alaska State Senate elections, 2024

General election

General election for Alaska State Senate District T

Theranked-choice voting election was won byDonald Olson in round 1 .

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
✔		Donald Olson	97.6	6,273	0	Won (1)

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,425
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Alaska State Senate District T

IncumbentDonald Olson advanced from the primary for Alaska State Senate District T on August 20, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donald Olson (D)	100.0	2,187

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,187
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

2020

See also: Alaska State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Alaska State Senate District T

IncumbentDonald Olson defeatedThomas Baker andCalvin Moto II in the general election for Alaska State Senate District T on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donald Olson (D)	65.3	6,604
		Thomas Baker (R)	33.8	3,422
		Calvin Moto II (R) (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	0.9	89

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,115
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Alaska State Senate District T

Thomas Baker defeatedCalvin Moto II in the Republican primary for Alaska State Senate District T on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Thomas Baker	60.6	674
		Calvin Moto II	39.4	438

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,112
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Alaska Democratic and Independence parties primary election

Alaska Democratic and Independence parties primary for Alaska State Senate District T

IncumbentDonald Olson advanced from the Alaska Democratic and Independence parties primary for Alaska State Senate District T on August 18, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Donald Olson	100.0	2,847

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,847
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Alaska State Senate elections, 2016

Elections for theAlaska State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 16, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 1, 2016.

IncumbentDonald C. Olson ran unopposed in the Alaska State Senate District T general election.^[1][2]

Alaska State Senate, District T General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Donald C. OlsonIncumbent (unopposed)
Source:Alaska Secretary of State

IncumbentDonald C. Olson ran unopposed in the Alaska State Senate District T Democratic Primary.^[3][4]

Alaska State Senate, District T Democratic Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Democratic	Donald C. OlsonIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

See also:Alaska State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for theAlaska State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 19, 2014. The general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 2, 2014. IncumbentDonald C. "Donny" Olson was unopposed in the Democratic primary and was unchallenged in the general election.^[5][6][7][8]

2012

See also:Alaska State Senate elections, 2012

Olson won re-election in the2012 election forAlaska State Senate District 20 (T). He ran unopposed in the August 28, 2012 Democratic primary and defeatedAllen Minish (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.^[9][10][11]

Alaska State Senate, District 20 (T), General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Donald OlsonIncumbent	75.5%	7,455
	Republican	Allen Minish	24.5%	2,415
Total Votes				9,870

2008

See also:Alaska State Senate elections, 2008

In 2008, Olson was re-elected to the Alaska State Senate, District T. Running without major opposition, Olson finished with 8,687 votes (97.84%).^[12]

Alaska State Senate, District T (2008)
Candidates		Votes	Percent
Donald Olson (D)		8,687	97.84%

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Donald Olson did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Donald Olson did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Alaska

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Alaska scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Olson and his wife, Willow, have three children.

See also

2024 Elections

What's on the ballot?U.S. PresidentU.S. CongressU.S. Congress special electionsState executivesState legislaturesState courtsBallot measuresMunicipal governmentSchool boardsElection analysis hub

Government

Who represents me?U.S. CongressState executivesState legislatorsState courtsBallot measuresMunicipal governmentSchool boards

Newsletters

The Daily BrewThe Weekly BrewThe Ballot BulletinChecks and BalancesEconomy and SocietyHall PassNumber of the DayRobe & Gavel

External links

Footnotes

	v • e State ofAlaska Juneau (capital)
Elections	What's on my ballot? |Elections in 2026 |How to vote |How to run for office |Ballot measures
Government	Who represents me? |U.S. President |U.S. Congress |Federal courts |State executives |State legislature |State and local courts |Counties |Cities |School districts |Public policy