Arlene Carle

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Arlene Carle

Independent

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 11, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Alaska, Anchorage, 1984

Personal

Birthplace

North Bend, Wash.

Religion

Christian

Profession

Claims litigation specialist

Contact

Campaign website

Arlene Carle (independent) ran in a special election to the U.S. House to represent Alaska's At-Large Congressional District. She lost in the special primary on June 11, 2022.

Carle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Arlene Carle was born in North Bend, Washington. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Alaska, Anchorage in 1984. Her career experience includes working as a claims litigation specialist. Carle has served as director of Alaska Cribbage Club, as secretary-treasurer for a vacation homeowner association in Oregon, on a road committee for a homeowner association in Anchorage, and as a member of the Moose Lodge.

Elections

2022

See also: United States House of Representatives special election in Alaska, 2022

United States House of Representatives special election in Alaska, 2022 (June 11 top-four primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Alaska At-large District

Select round: Round 2 Round 1

The ranked-choice voting election was won by Mary Peltola in round 2 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Mary Peltola	51.5	91,266	15,467	Won (2)
		Sarah Palin	48.5	86,026	27,053	2
		Nicholas Begich	0.0	0	-53,810	1
		Chris Bye (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Lady Donna Dutchess (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Robert Ornelas (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
	Submit photo	Sherry Strizak (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Tara Sweeney (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
	Submit photo	Ernest Thomas (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1

		Candidate	%	Total Votes	Transfer	Round eliminated
		Mary Peltola	40.2	75,799	0	Won (2)
		Sarah Palin	31.3	58,973	0	2
		Nicholas Begich	28.5	53,810	0	1
		Chris Bye (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Lady Donna Dutchess (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Robert Ornelas (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
	Submit photo	Sherry Strizak (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
		Tara Sweeney (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1
	Submit photo	Ernest Thomas (Write-in)	0.0	0	0	1

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 188,582
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Al Gross (Independent)

Nonpartisan primary election

Special nonpartisan primary for U.S. House Alaska At-large District

The following candidates ran in the special primary for U.S. House Alaska At-large District on June 11, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sarah Palin (R)	27.0	43,601
✔		Nicholas Begich (R)	19.1	30,861
✔		Al Gross (Independent)	12.6	20,392
✔		Mary Peltola (D)	10.1	16,265
		Tara Sweeney (R)	5.9	9,560
		Santa Claus (Independent)	4.7	7,625
		Christopher Constant (D)	3.9	6,224
		Jeff Lowenfels (Independent)	3.7	5,994
		John B. Coghill (R)	2.4	3,842
		Josh Revak (R)	2.3	3,785
	Submit photo	Andrew Halcro (Independent)	1.9	3,013
		Adam Wool (D)	1.7	2,730
	Submit photo	Emil Notti (D)	1.1	1,777
		Chris Bye (L)	0.6	1,049
	Submit photo	Mike Milligan (D)	0.4	608
		John Howe (Alaskan Independence Party)	0.2	380
	Submit photo	Laurel Foster (Independent)	0.2	338
		Stephen Wright (R)	0.2	332
	Submit photo	Jay Armstrong (R)	0.2	286
		J.R. Myers (L)	0.2	285
		Gregg Brelsford (Independent)	0.2	284
	Submit photo	Ernest Thomas (D)	0.1	199
		Robert Lyons (R)	0.1	197
	Submit photo	Otto Florschutz (R)	0.1	193
	Submit photo	Maxwell Sumner (R)	0.1	133
	Submit photo	Richard Trotter (R)	0.1	121
	Submit photo	Anne McCabe (Independent)	0.1	118
	Submit photo	John Callahan (R)	0.1	114
		Arlene Carle (Independent)	0.1	107
	Submit photo	Tim Beck (Independent)	0.1	96
	Submit photo	Thomas Gibbons (R)	0.1	94
	Submit photo	Sherry Mettler (Independent)	0.1	92
		Lady Donna Dutchess (Independent)	0.1	87
		Robert Ornelas (American Independent Party)	0.1	83
	Submit photo	Ted Heintz (L)	0.0	70
	Submit photo	Silvio Pellegrini (Independent)	0.0	70
	Submit photo	Karyn Griffin (Independent)	0.0	67
	Submit photo	David Hughes (Independent)	0.0	54
	Submit photo	Don Knight (Independent)	0.0	46
	Submit photo	Jo Woodward (R)	0.0	44
	Submit photo	Jason Williams (Independent)	0.0	37
	Submit photo	Robert Brown (Independent)	0.0	36
	Submit photo	Dennis Aguayo (Independent)	0.0	31
		William Hibler (Independent)	0.0	25
	Submit photo	Bradley Welter (R)	0.0	24
	Submit photo	David Thistle (Independent)	0.0	23
	Submit photo	Brian Beal (Independent)	0.0	19
	Submit photo	Mikel Melander (R)	0.0	17

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 161,428
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jesse Sumner (R)
• Breck Craig (Independent)
• Richard Morris (Independent)

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Arlene Carle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Carle's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a long-time Alaskan who formerly held a variety of positions with a national insurance company. The last five years of employment I worked as a claims litigation specialist resolving cases through negotiation, arbitration, mediation, and court settlement conferences. This is the first time I've run for public office. Instead of sitting on the sidelines and complaining about government, I've decided to jump in and I hope to persuade others there's a better course forward than policies the country is now undertaking.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Common sense is essential.
• I will tell my constituency the truth.
• Washington, D.C., needs to know their policies must work everywhere.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Energy: A national energy policy must work in all 50 States. It's not working in California or Texas. It won't work in Alaska. Windmills freeze up in the cold and need constant wind and petroleum lubrication. Electric cars have a range of about 200 miles. You can fill a gas tank in minutes. It takes hours to recharge an electric car. Solar panels need sun. We have communities in Alaska that are without sun for three months at a stretch. We have lots of sun in the summer, but in winter solar panels will be covered in snow. Until technology makes giant leaps forward, we need to stop the war on oil that is costing jobs and causing inflation.

Education: We know in Alaska more money hasn't solve our education problems. Our streets, and our prisons, are filled with people who can't read and write. Washington D.C. has given us a cookie-cutter policy that teaches to the lowest common denominator and bores everyone else. It's time to return to policies that guarantee success for every child, it's time to return to Readin', Writin', and 'Rithmetic.

Government intrusion into Citizens' Lives: I'm all for helping those who really need a helping hand, but we must put an end to welfare policies that make men in the household irrelevant. Those policies have led to unprecedented suicide rates in our bush communities. The State cannot be the breadwinner for a healthy community.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official at the national level must be able to weigh decisions critically and balance the needs of the local constituency with those of the national constituency. They need the necessary relationship skills to select and manage staff as well as accomplish goals by building working relationships with other legislators. They need to remain calm under pressure and be prepared to work 24/7 as needs arise. They need to be a good listener - a good communicator. They need to be able to distinguish needs as opposed to wants. They need to want to serve their constituency.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I'm reasonable, honest, unbiased, a good listener, and approach issues using common sense. I listen carefully and weigh options before making decisions. I seek additional information if needed. I can be persuaded but not bullied. I am a hard, dedicated worker and like to accomplish goals and objectives.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Draftsman trainee, Boeing. Three weeks. Let me explain. I was 18. We spent more time in the projection room watching cartoons than we did doing work. Watching cartoons for hours on end is not for me. Never has been. I quit three times before they finally cut me loose. Years later, I finally figured it out. Boeing's contracts were government cost-plus contracts. The bigger the cost, the bigger the plus. Boeing was making bundles by hiring employees and wasting their time.

With my severance pay, I took the summer off. When I ran out of money, I went to work for a national insurance company where I held a variety of positions from clerical to management before retiring 32 years later.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

I am so fortunate, and grateful, to have been born in the greatest country in the history of the world. What has been accomplished here is staggering. Look around you! Look at our standard of living. Look at our technological advances. Look at the generosity we have shown to our own citizens and other peoples and other countries. Our founding fathers gave us limited government, individual freedom, free enterprise, and national security. The challenge in the next ten years, and always, will be to repel enemies, domestic and foreign, who want to take those freedoms away from us.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

It's interesting that the Constitution prescribed a minimum age for federal office holders but not a maximum. When the Constitution was written, the average lifespan was 60 years and our representatives were regular citizens who took on a special task and then returned to private life. Now we have evolved (devolved?) to where so many politicians are professional politicians who can spend 50, maybe 60, years in public office. Having term limits would force us to elect new people to office with new ideas. Senators and Representatives who make $174,000 a year (plus ample fringe benefits) and take free junkets around the world at taxpayer expense will never pass a law imposing term limits. It's up to us, the voters, to extend time in office for representatives who perform to our satisfaction. It's also up to us to end the time in office for those who don't. We impose term limits by voting out of office anyone not responsive to our needs.

Tell us your favorite joke.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are on Safari in Africa and stopped to camp for the night. In the middle of the night, Holmes calls to Dr. Watson, "Watson, look around you! What do you see?" Holmes took a minute, looked around and replied, "I see millions of stars." Holmes asked, "and, what do you deduce?" Watson paused to think and then replied, "with millions of stars there must be gazillions of planets, and with gazillions of planets, there must be other intelligent life in the Universe." Holmes, said, "Watson, you twit! Someone has stolen our tent."

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Compromise should be the art of bringing conflicting objectives together by both sides giving a little and both sides getting a little. Compromise in Washington D.C. seems more like "give me all I want and I'll give you all you want." It's Washington D.C. style "compromise" that has given us a thirty trillion dollar national debt by spending on things like gender studies in Pakistan, anti-narcotics programs in Bruma, a grant to study shrimp walking on a treadmill, and $200 million for a park in San Francisco, the home of the Speaker of the House. If you can accomplish what you want without compromise, go for it. If you need something and the only way to get it done is to compromise, cut the best deal you can.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

The Heart of the Primaries The Daily Brew The Weekly Brew The Ballot Bulletin Checks and Balances Economy and Society Hall Pass Number of the Day Robe & Gavel Union Station

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

U.S. House Alaska At-large District

Website

Footnotes

[show]

Alaska's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Lisa Murkowski (R)

Daniel Sullivan (R)

Representatives

Nicholas Begich (R)

Republican Party (3)