My name is Reece Roberts
(in case you haven’t seen it written all over the website).
I’m 39 years old (40 by the November election).

I live in the Anchorage community of Spenard.
I rent a 1 bedroom apartment.
I don’t own any real estate, land, or any other type of “real” property.

I first visited Alaska when I was 18 years old, back in 2005.
I visited Alaska and worked here every year since (except in 2011).
I officially became an Alaska resident in 2019.

I was born and raised in Northern New England.
From 2004 until officially moving to Alaska, my “address of record” was a post office box in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

I love to learn and explore, and I spent most of my 20s taking seasonal jobs and set duration employment contracts.
In addition to seasonal jobs in Alaska, I’ve lived and worked in Spain, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Antarctica.
I managed to visit all seven continents before my 30th birthday (not a “flex,” but it’s an achievement I’m proud of).

In short- I want to actually fix things, instead of just bitching and whining about it.

I’m a working-class guy. I don’t have the ego or vanity to be a politician, but… damn it… the other Senate candidates are all awful. Yes, that includes the incumbent, and the one with previous Congressional experience. They are part of why the system is failing. Not to insult your preferred guy or gal, but they just want to stay in the system. None of them really seem to care that our country is falling apart.

The foundations of our republic and the institutions of our democracy are actively being dismantled.

Our country is being exploited by greedy, unscrupulous malefactors, hiding behind corporations and PACs; turning every aspect of our existence into a wealth extraction machine. There is so much blatant cronyism and corruption. I feel physically ill as I watch more public assets and more public services “privatized.” Years of our tax-payer investments are being sold off to make profits for multi-billionaires.

Personal freedoms are being away as federal “law enforcement” agencies act without oversight, and no regard for actual law and our Constitution. Private companies are embedding themselves into local governments to set up mass surveillance networks (and sucking away our tax dollars to do it). Individuals are being targeted as criminals for simply existing

I’m outraged! I’m angry! I cannot keep silently screaming “Won’t somebody do something?“

Quotes like, “Be the change you want to see in the world” or “Evil triumphs when good men do nothing” come to mind, but this isn’t a self-important, altruist crusade; I am running for office out of desperation. I do not want to believe things are hopeless.

There absolutely exists a better person to represent Alaska … but they didn’t sign up for this election.
I’m running because I am better than the awful candidates we have now.

Non-Partisan simply means that I am not a member of any political party.

I have no confidence in the established political parties and do not feel comfortable associating my name with any of them.

I’m going to focus on the Republican and Democrat parties, as they are the largest. They are two sides of the same coin: a massively dysfunctional and corrupt political apparatus.

Republicans have become something akin to evil incarnate. Republicans are actively selling out America to corporate interests and replacing our freedoms with religious extremism.
They have a great propaganda machine, that claims they are the “fiscal conservatives,” the party of “law and order” and the defenders of “family values.” NONE of those statements are true: our National debt has exploded under Republican rule from tax breaks for billionaires and corporations; the Republican party shamelessly defends and supports the blatant corruption of Donald Trump, himself a convicted felon and rapist; and Republicans are actively destroying the families of American citizens who simply aren’t white or Christian. There is no excusable way to remain a Republican and still claim to be for fiscal conservancy, or individual liberty. As long as Donald Trump is the head of the party, any candidate calling themself a Republican is perpetuating the fraud and the authoritarian decent into extremism. Any Republican candidate with a spine to stand up for justice went “independent” or quit politics all together.

Democrats are, simply, incompetent. And they are complicit in the same evils of fraud and corruption. The Democratic party has become body of indifferent, feckless lawmakers, devoid of any actual leadership. For every horrifying crime committed by their Republican counterparts, all the public gets is a shrug: maybe some pearly clutching and finger wagging “tsk, tsk,” or some useless “symbolic gesture” of disagreement. Democrats have made an industry of passively sitting by and doing nothing while passing it off as “opposition.” Every scandal the Republican party makes is accompanied with another round of “Act Blue” donation demands, promising to “Save America” yet they have no intention of changing anything.

Republicans are actively dismantling and selling out our country. Democrats sit on the sidelines doing nothing to stop them while also preventing anyone from interfering.

Both parties are awful, and we suffer for it.

Alaska needs better. America needs better.

I don’t think I’m crazy. I’m a pretty regular guy- capable of rational thought and empathy.

I think of politics as how we balance the liberties of individuals with the greater needs of society. Government is the pivot point, and the balance always teeters a bit. Government needs some structure and identity for reliability and growth, but it also need some flexibility to adapt to changes in the populace and the outside world. Too much rigidity or too much fluidity and the government becomes dysfunctional.

In the vast landscape that covers political positions, I fall somewhere between democratic socialist and libertarian socialist. This is not a political party or a specific dogma that I follow. I stand by being nonpartisan, and I do not wholeheartedly believe in any defined political ideology. I am willing to make -some- compromises for the greater good, but there are some core political tenets I will never sway from.

We need to rein in greed and corruption, without sacrificing our individual freedoms in the process.

In general:
I believe in personal liberty, and in smaller, less authoritarian government.
I believe in the continued existence of private property and free enterprise.
I believe the economy must be structured, and sufficiently monitored or regulated, so that it serves the needs of society first, with the needs of capital coming second.

A younger me was much more of a libertarian capitalist, but I see what is happening in our current hyper-capitalist economy. Our country has been pressured to “deregulate” business for the sake of economic growth. Now we have unchecked greed causing corruption and threatening to collapse the whole nation.

Yes, I’m serious.

I’m also realistic.I don’t have the pocketbook of corporate donors, (but I also don’t have any obligations for political favors down the line). Federal campaign finance laws have allowed for disgusting amounts of money to be given candidates. The leading Republican and Democratic candidates have over $16 MILLION in campaign contributions between them (as last reported by the Federal Election Commission).
For the record, as of this writing (mid-June), I have about $800 of my own money in this campaign. I am very much aware of that not-so-small difference.

I’m not currently seeking financial donations. I’ve always had trouble asking other people for money and times are tough for most Alaskans. It feels… unethical, to put a hand out this early in a campaign. There may later be a time in the future when I will request donations, with a specific target in mind (say, for a broadcast ad) but until then, please keep your money. It’s better served staying in your pocket, supporting you and your family.

So I am serious, but my goal is to make positive changes to our political system. Being elected to office would be the best way to make that change. This campaign is also an opportunity to challenge the established party candidates; by calling out their dysfunction and questioning their mediocrity. If I don’t win, I still hope to impart some influence and push the eventual winner into being just a little less awful.

Also, for the sake of honesty and transparency, I’m in the process of filing my campaign with the FEC, intending to be registered by the end of June. I’m not trying to be a hypocrite.