Want to run for local office in Juneau? This upcoming workshop will show you how.

The City and Borough of Juneau will hold its annual How to Run for Local Office workshop this Saturday at City Hall.

It’s a chance for anyone interested in running for a seat on the Juneau Assembly or School Board to ask questions and learn about what it takes to campaign and serve. The workshop is put on annually by the city, the League of Women Voters and Friends of the Juneau Public Libraries. 

Peggy Cowan with the League of Women Voters spoke about the workshop in an interview on Juneau Afternoon last week.

“This workshop will hopefully encourage people who might not know that much about running for office or haven’t been involved in a campaign before,” she said. “It’s hopefully helped take a little bit of the mystery out of like, ‘How do you get started?’”

Six local seats are open for the Oct. 7 municipal election — three on the Juneau Assembly and three on the Juneau School District Board of Education. There is no mayoral race this election. 

The Assembly seats currently filled by members Ella Adkison, Greg Smith and Wade Bryson will be up for grabs. Both Smith and Bryson are nearing the end of their second full, three-year terms. Adkison is finishing her first partial term after she was elected in 2023 to serve the remaining two years of a member who resigned. 

School board seats filled by Deedie Sorensen and Emil Mackey will be open this election. There will also be an opportunity to serve a partial term following former member Will Muldoon’s abrupt resignation from the board last week. 

Muldoon was reelected to serve a second three-year term last fall. He did not give a reason for his departure. The district will soon appoint a temporary member to fill the role until the election.

Cowan recommended that people sign up before attending the workshop, but it’s not required. 

“If you get inspired and it’s a rainy morning on Saturday the third and you want to come on in, then you are more than welcome to drop in,” she said. 

There’s also a handful of citizen ballot initiatives that residents may be asked to vote on in this election, depending on whether advocates gather enough signatures in support. The filing period to run for local office will open in mid-July.