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Alaskan Independence Party
Chairperson	John Wayne Howe
Founder	Joe Vogler
Founded	1973 (1973) (as Alaskans for Independence) June 14, 1984; 41 years ago (1984-06-14)[1]
Membership(2023)	18,882[2]
Ideology	Alaskannationalism Libertarian conservatism Social conservatism
Colors	Blue  Gold
Statewide Executive Offices	0 / 2
Seats in theSenate	0 / 20
Seats in theHouse	0 / 40
Seats in theU.S. Senate	0 / 2
Seats in theU.S. House of Representatives	0 / 1
Website
alaskanindependence.party
Politics of Alaska Elections

TheAlaskan Independence Party (AIP) is anAlaskannationalistpolitical party in theUnited States that advocates for an in-statereferendum which would include the option of Alaska becoming an independent country. The party also supportsgun rights,direct democracy,privatization, abolishingfederal land ownership, andlimited government.^[3]

Wally Hickel was elected as theGovernor of Alaska in1990 under the Independence Party, making it one of the fewthird parties to have controlled a governor's seat; however, Hickel transferred to the Republican Party before the1994 election.

In early 1973, Vogler foundedAlaskans for Independence (AFI), originally to label a petition drive.^[4] Vogler wrote to local Alaskan newspapers and argued against the Alaskan statehood vote. In 1973, Vogler began circulating a petition seeking support forsecession of Alaska from the United States. TheAlaska magazine published a piece at that time in which Vogler claimed to have gathered 25,000 signatures in three weeks.^{[citation needed]}

In 1978, Vogler merged the AFI into theAlaskan Independence Party (AIP), a political party.^[4]

During the first decade of its existence, the Party was used exclusively by Vogler for his first two campaigns for governor and campaign for lieutenant governor. Vogler would serve as the AIP's standard-bearer for most of the party's first two decades.^[5] The party has maintained its recognized status since, first by maintaining thresholds in gubernatorial elections, then through same with voter registration.^[1]

Vogler, who founded the AIP, described himself as a "separatist", but the AIP's platform does not explicitly call for secession. Referring to Alaska's 1959admission to the union, the AIP's charter states that "The Alaskan Independence Party's goal is the vote we were entitled to in 1958, one choice from among the following four choices:

1. Remain aterritory.
2. Become a separate and independentcountry.
3. Acceptcommonwealth status.
4. Become astate.

Members of the AIP, including Vogler, alleged that the 1958 referendum on Alaskan statehood was rigged by the federal government.^[6]

On multiple occasions, Vogler called for violence against the federal government. For instance, Vogler once said, "God, I hate those sons of bitches. If I ever get a revolution going, I'm going to import a bunch of guillotines and lop off their lying heads."^[6] In a 1991 interview, Vogler said "And you say the hell with [government]. And you renounce allegiance, and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life to Alaska."^[4] While the Chair of the AIP Vogler had a dispute with the Bureau of Land Management, resulting in a stand-off with BLM officers and a lawsuit against Vogler by the BLM.^[6]

Vogler's running mate in 1986 was Al Rowe, a Fairbanks resident and formerAlaska State Trooper. Rowe took out a series of newspaper ads, fashioning himself in the image ofSheriff Buford Pusser. These ads were a major attention getter during the race.^{[citation needed]} Between Rowe's ads and the turmoil existing in theRepublican Party over the nomination ofArliss Sturgulewski, the AIP gained 5.2 percent of the vote, becoming a recognized party in Alaska for the first time.^{[citation needed]}

In1990, former Republican governorWalter Joseph Hickel won the election forgovernor as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, with Jack Coghill as hisrunning mate. This was the first time since Alaska joined the union that a third-party candidate has been elected governor, until the election ofJesse Ventura in Minnesota in1998, and thenBill Walker in Alaska in2014. Hickel refused a vote on secession called on by a fringe group within the AIP loyal to Vogler's original vision. He rejoined the Republican Party in 1994, with eight months remaining in his term.^{[citation needed]}

Carl E. Moses, a businessman fromUnalaska who had served in theAlaska House of Representatives from 1965 to 1973 as both a Republican andDemocrat, was elected again to the House in 1992, running under the AIP banner. He was elected to a district comprising mostly the area between theAleutian Islands andBristol Bay. He switched his party affiliation back to Democrat at around the same time that Hickel switched, and continued to serve in the House until 2007.^{[citation needed]}

The party did not get involved in presidential elections until1992, when it endorsedHoward Phillips, the candidate of theU.S. Taxpayers Party (now theConstitution Party).^{[citation needed]}

Mark Chryson, the former Chair of the AIP, in 2008 said that "the Confederate states [should] have been allowed to separate and go their peaceful ways...The War of Northern Aggression, or the Civil War, or the War Between the States -- however you want to refer to it -- was not about slavery, it was about states' rights."^[7]

The chairmanship of the AIP came to Lynette Clark about 2004. Also joining around 2001 was prolife activist and conservative public school teacher Bob Bird, who was a Pat Buchanan delegate at the 1996 GOP convention. Bird had run against Ted Stevens in the 1990 primary, when he first met Vogler. Bird's strong showing against Stevens, coupled with his friendship with one of statehood founders Jack Coghill, encouraged Hickel and Coghill to join the AIP.

Bird assumed the role of Acting Chairman until he was confirmed at a Wasilla convention that fall, and continued as chairman at the Kenai convention in 2022.

The Alaskan Independence Party sued the state of Alaska in 2020, seeking to overturn the results from areferendum whereranked-choice voting was implemented in Alaska's general elections.^[8]

The AIP has embraced a "traditional family" message in the 21st-century.^[7] Chryson said the AIP is "for the traditional family -- daddy, mommy, kids."^[7] The party opposes the legalization of same-sex marriage.^[7]

In 2006, members of the AIP collected the one hundred signatures needed to place on the fall ballot an initiative calling for Alaska to secede from the union or, if that was found not to be legally possible, directing the state to work to make secession legal. However, in the case ofKohlhaas v. State^[9] the Alaska State Supreme Court ruled any attempt at secession to be unconstitutional and the initiative was not approved to appear on the fall ballot.^[10]

In May 2009, the party had 13,119 registered members. As of May 2021, a press release on the AIP website indicates that the number of registered members has grown to nearly 19,000, making it the state's third largest party and about a quarter the size of the state's Democratic party (Republicans had 124,892 members and the Democrats had 75,047).^[11]

On September 2, 2008, the Alaska Division of Elections had records thatTodd Palin, husband of GovernorSarah Palin (aRepublican and vice-presidential candidate), had registered as a member of the Alaskan Independence Party in 1995. He remained registered with the party until 2002.^[12] David Niewert andMax Blumenthal wrote inSalon about the third party's influence in gaining election of Sarah Palin as mayor ofWasilla in her first political office.^[13]

For other AKIP candidates who earned more than 5.0% of the vote in state legislative races, seeList of third-party and independent performances in Alaska state legislative elections.

Notable past party officials include:

• Bob Bird, Chairman from 2020 to 2024
• Todd Palin, ex-husband ofSarah Palin (was a member for seven years, later switched to Republican Party)
• Edgar Paul Boyko, Attorney General for the State of Alaska
• Jack Coghill, formerLieutenant Governor of Alaska
• Joe Vogler, founder of the Alaskan Independence Party
• Wally Hickel, governor 1966–1969 as aRepublican and 1990–1994 as AKIP, the only successful Alaskan Independence gubernatorial candidate to date.

• Secession in the United States
• List of political parties in the United States
• Political party strength in Alaska
• Puerto Rican Independence Party
• Republic of Texas (group)
• Free State Project
• Hawaiian sovereignty movement
• Second Vermont Republic
• Proposals for new Canadian provinces and territories

• Official website

• 1973 establishments in Alaska
• Former Constitution Party (United States) state affiliates
• Pro-independence parties
• Libertarian parties in the United States
• Paleoconservative parties in the United States
• Political parties established in 1973
• Political parties in Alaska
• Secessionist organizations in the United States
• Socially conservative parties
• State and local conservative parties in the United States
• Regional and state political parties in the United States

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