Former Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum is throwing his hat in the ring for the 2026 Alaska governor’s race as a Republican. Crum filed paperwork on Monday allowing him to begin raising money for the campaign.
He’s running to replace his former boss, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who is term-limited. Dunleavy first appointed Crum to lead the Department of Health and Social Services when he took office in 2018. He tapped Crum to lead the Department of Revenue in 2022.
Crum is the eighth Republican to announce their campaign for governor. No Democrats or independents have formally joined the race. The filing deadline isn’t until next June.
In a brief interview, Crum said his experience in senior government roles, as well as in the private sector, gives him an edge in a crowded field.
"I understand the function of government, the function of the Legislature, the important things to the private sector, so I'll have a functioning government up and running faster than anybody else," Crum said.
Crum describes himself as a “conservative Christian” but said he’s willing to work across party lines. He said he’d like the state to diversify its economy and that his work as revenue commissioner would help him attract businesses to the state.
"One of the benefits of this role at Revenue is meeting with outside investors and actually talking to them about what are the issues they see, about why they don't invest in Alaska, and what could be done to improve that," Crum said.
Echoing Dunleavy, Crum also said he would like to reform the state's public school system, which has languished near the bottom of national rankings. He said he hopes to work collaboratively with the Legislature on ways to improve education in the state.
"I think it's very clear that there does need to be a level of investment, but there also has to be some change in policies," he said.
Crum said he also wanted to work toward a new Permanent Fund dividend formula that’s predictable for residents and affordable for a state struggling with declining resource revenue.
"The reality is right now is there is not enough funds available to pay statutory dividends across the board, and I think we need an honest conversation about what is the dividend going forward, what level is appropriate and what is consistent," he said.
The Department of Revenue faced criticism from legislative leaders earlier this year as lawmakers struggled to obtain data on oil and gas taxes in a format they could understand. The dispute led lawmakers to pass a bill bolstering the legislative auditor’s authority and override a veto from Dunleavy. Crum says on his last day in office on Friday, he directed department officials to cooperate with legislators’ requests.
"It's going to be very costly in order to put it in this particular format, but they're going to do that, and then everybody will see that there is no information that is being lost," he said.
Dunleavy announced Friday that Janelle Earls would take over as acting revenue commissioner. She had been the department’s administrative services director.
