Jesse Kiehl

Jesse Kiehl was born on April 17, 1976, in Anchorage, Alaska, and graduated from Steller Secondary School in 1994.^[2] Kiehl attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998, with both a major in theatre and a major with honors in politics.^[3]

From 2000 to 2018, Kiehl worked as staff to Juneau-area members of the Alaska State Senate. Until 2009 he worked for Kim Elton, and began working for Dennis Egan upon his appointment to replace Elton.^[4] In 2011, Kiehl ran for local office, beating Bradley Fluetsch by a large margin.^[5] He took office in October 2011. Kiehl was unopposed in his 2014 re-election campaign. In 2017 he won a third term in a three-candidate race against Chuck Collins and Loretto Jones, garnering more than 67% of the vote.^[6] He served as a member of the Assembly of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska^[1] until resigning to serve in the state senate in January 2019.^[7]

Kiehl also served in a Juneau-specific seat on the board of directors of the Alaska Municipal League.^[8][9]

Kiehl won the State Senate election on November 6, 2018, from the platform of Democratic Party. He secured sixty-two percent of the vote while his closest rival Independent Don Etheridge secured thirty-eight percent.^[1][10]