Sitka Assembly Member JJ Carlson filed Thursday (7-23-26) to run for a second full term. She’s the first to bid for an assembly seat this year. 

Carlson works for Friends of Sheldon Jackson Museum. She’s served on the assembly since she was appointed in the fall of 2022 to fill a vacancy left by Rebecca Himschoot, who was elected to the state legislature. Carlson was elected to a full term in 2023. 

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Carlson to talk about her decision to run again.

TRANSCRIPT:

CARLSON: I think I learned a lot in my first four years. I was appointed and then elected, and you know, there’s just a learning curve. There’s a lot that this municipality does. We run all of our own utilities, and it takes a bit to understand how that all fits together and see that big picture. I think at this point, I have a really good grasp of that big picture, and so now in my second term, I think I’d be very good at piecing together details that see a multi-level approach to getting some good decision making and some good things moving forward for this community.

KCAW: And tell me a little bit more about yourself.

CARLSON: Yeah, the other side of the story, right? You guys probably all know me as the assembly member JJ, but I do a lot around. I have a nonprofit management job. I volunteer quite a bit. I’m in the running community. You maybe see me painting crosswalks, being in the arts community here, doing stuff with kids, participating in some programs for our elders as well. It’s really hard to really pin me down. You know that’s the Sitkan. We’re always wearing multiple hats and serving our neighbors in different ways, and I really fit into that. So thanks for that question because that’s what Sitka is: that kind of community approach, and you might see someone in one light, but you know there’s so many different angles.

KCAW: What do you see as some of the biggest issues facing Sitkans right now? And if elected to a second term, how would you address those?

CARLSON: There’s a lot of cost of living concerns. There’s a lot of things facing my generation, the kind of working middle, and it’s an expensive place to be. It’s a lovely place to be. We have a great community. There’s so many attributes. It’s the financial side that is really stressing people out and causing maybe some unnecessary moves out of town. And the place of an assembly member can be to balance some of that. We have to cover our costs, but maybe we can do it in a way that doesn’t burden, you know, that working family.

KCAW: During your four years on the assembly so far, what are some of the things that you’re most proud of?

CARLSON: So many little things, but the big ones were kind of starting that tourism task force, and then starting that tourism commission to really look at how to best manage the situation that we found ourselves in in the last five years with that visitation from the cruise industry. And you know it’s something to be worked with. Limiting ourselves was an option. The town decided not to do that, so the management approach was what we went with, and I was a big part of bringing that to fruition.

KCAW: And you’re from Sitka. Does that play a role into you running for the assembly?

CARLSON: Absolutely. Born and raised here, an ’80s kid in Alaska was just a dream of so many, and I was able to live it. And you know, having that background, seeing really what we come from and the challenges that developed over time, that could have maybe been addressed a little bit sooner, I’m looking at that as a lens, seeing what was going on now and how to kind of adapt and and create solutions that don’t perpetuate forward. This is a great place to raise a family. I was blessed with that as a kid, and I’d like to see my neighbors, my classmates from high school, you know, myself being able to do that here. And there’s a lot of that kind of stuff that you wouldn’t quite pick up on as a potential concern or an immediate concern if you didn’t have kind of some decades here in this state, and I just want to be able to bring all of that knowledge that’s just kind of embedded in me forward to best serve this community. I think being on the assembly is a good way for me to kind of balance my skills that I developed that decade or two that I was gone and brought back, and really using that decision-making capacity that my master’s degree of decision-making is basically what architecture school is, and apply that to the place I love and the place I want to be and the place I want to succeed, you know, most in this world.

KCAW: Well, I don’t know that I have more questions right now. Is there anything else that I should have asked you, or you’d like to share?

CARLSON: Sitka is a great spot, and I think if we all work together, we can keep this place being the dream that we live. And I’m just wishing that Sitkans can trust and see that I did a good job in the last four years with the detailed work and with the big picture work. You know, I’m a steady voice. My decision making, my record shows, is pretty solid. I add to the conversations and deliberation, and sponsor a few things here and there too that really, really bring some good things to Sitka. And you know I’m very open to listening and hearing what the community wants, and then considering that and folding it into how I vote at the table.