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Dennis Harris
Dennis Harris (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Alaska House of Representatives to represent District 32. He lost in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Harris completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2018. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Dennis Harris graduated from Kodiak High School in 2009. Harris earned a B.A in Biology from Whittier College and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Southern California. His professional experience includes working as a pharmacist and adjunct faculty.[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Alaska House of Representatives District 32
Incumbent Louise Stutes defeated Dennis Harris and Sandra Katelnikoff-Lester in the general election for Alaska House of Representatives District 32 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Louise Stutes (R) | 53.1 | 3,261 |
 | Dennis Harris (D)  | 33.7 | 2,072 | |
| Sandra Katelnikoff-Lester (Independent) | 12.5 | 767 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 40 | ||
| Total votes: 6,140 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 32
Incumbent Louise Stutes defeated Rich Walker in the Republican primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 32 on August 21, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Louise Stutes | 54.9 | 959 |
 | Rich Walker | 45.1 | 788 | |
| Total votes: 1,747 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Alaska Democratic, Libertarian, and Independence parties primary election
Alaska Democratic, Libertarian, and Independence parties primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 32
Dennis Harris advanced from the Alaska Democratic, Libertarian, and Independence parties primary for Alaska House of Representatives District 32 on August 21, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dennis Harris | 100.0 | 708 |
| Total votes: 708 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Dennis Harris participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on August 15, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Dennis Harris's responses follow below.[2]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | Make Housing Affordable
Increase the Minimum Wage |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | Giving hardworking people a chance. So many people are stuck living paycheck to paycheck, having to choose between rent, food, and keeping the lights on. We can stimulate the economy, decrease opioid and substance abuse, and decrease crime if we address the social and economic problems keeping people from having a chance at life.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[4]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Dennis Harris answered the following:
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow and why?
| “ | I look up to Bernie Sanders & Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, because they are not only fighting for hardworking people, but they are mobilizing the electorate. We need change, and to get that we need legislators to fight for us, but also people to vote them into office.[4] | ” |
| “ | People need to trust that the elected official is doing everything they can to improve the lives of their constituents. Voters may not agree with their representative on everything, but if they know that the representative is trying their best, and want whats best for the people, there isn't that fear and anger that makes politics so toxic.[4] | ” |
| “ | I genuinely listen. Everyone has something to offer, and people are generally rational. Even if they have an idea I disagree with, often, if we can find out what led them to that belief, we can find common ground, and figure out ways to sate the core of our concerns.
But I also am unwaveringly committed to fighting for those who are struggling. And I will not stand by while people are getting hurt by an unfair system.[4] |
” |
| “ | Have the people's best interest at heart
Be compassionate |
” |
| “ | I want people a generation from now to look back and think, Dennis Harris was a real fighter for hardworking people. When people were struggling, no matter how bad it got, they knew they had someone in the government fighting for them everyday, and that was Dennis.[4] | ” |
| “ | Bush winning the white house. I remember because there was a lot of concern around if he really won, and Florida and the supreme court was at the center of it all. I was 9 years old at the time.[4] | ” |
| “ | I worked at a fish cannery in the summers during middle school. I was 13/14[4] | ” |
| “ | Being stable. Having to move multiple times growing up, going to school hungry, getting the electricity turned off. Growing up was hard, and then deciding I wanted to be the first one in my family to graduate from college, I felt like I was in the dark and making mistakes constantly.[4] | ” |
| “ | I think that we need a diversity of ideas and experiences, and while being seasoned is helpful, it also can "mold" people to the current system. And coming from different backgrounds and experiences can help improve and diversify the system as a whole. So it would be good for some people to have a background, but also good for some not to.[4] | ” |
| “ | Finding a revenue source other than fossil fuels. Our budget is a mess because of it, and our services and economy are suffering.[4] | ” |
| “ | Supportive but not enabling. We need checks and balances, but we need an agreement to work towards whats best for the state. While there may be differences, we are in a toxically partisan environment that often seems more focused on political gain rather than progress in the state/country.[4] | ” |
| “ | There should be some degree of relationship building. But I think at the end of the day we should focus more on evidence and real representation of our constituents. We need to be careful about not helping our friends in the legislature and making deals/alliances over what is best for Alaska[4] | ” |
| “ | Independent commission that does redistricting.[4] | ” |
| “ | Health, Rules, Labor, & Education[4] | ” |
| “ | I want to focus on evidence and improve the lives of people struggling most. And so if I had to choose a political figure I would say FDR.[4] | ” |
| “ | If I believe I can make more substantive change, and will be better able to help hardworking people, I will consider it. But I want to be where I can do the most good, and for now that is in the state legislature.[4] | ” |
| “ | I was knocking on doors the other day and someone told me something I won't forget. It was a single mom who's husband died because he didn't have access to healthcare, she's working multiple jobs, breaking down her body, and she often goes hungry so her kids don't have to. She said she used to hope that an organization or politician would come and change things just a little, to do something to make the world just a little more fair of a place. But she'd given up hope. She stopped voting, she stopped asking for help, and now she is just trying to survive. But hearing my message, from healthcare, to affordable housing, to raising the minimum wage. These are things that could help her get on her feet. But just as importantly, someone who is fighting for the people who are being crushed by the system. She said that if I am who I say I am, she'll feel a little better knowing that there are people out there fighting for us "little people." And she'll make the time to come out and vote for the first time in 10 years, because now she has a real reason to.[4] | ” |
Ballotpedia biographical submission form
The candidate completed Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form:
| “ | What is your political philosophy?
When considering legislation, we can't just think about who will benefit, we also need to think about who will be hurt by it. The system is set up to help those on top. I want to be a voice for people who are doing everything right, but still struggling to get by, and to give them hope that they too can live the American Dream.[4] |
” |
| —Dennis Harris[1] | ||
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Alaska House of Representatives elections, 2018
- Alaska House of Representatives
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia’s biographical information submission form on August 13, 2018
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Dennis Harris's responses," August 15, 2018
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
