Albert Kookesh to run against Stedman in District Q

In what promises to be an important election for Southeast Alaska voters in 2012, District 3 State Senator and Angoon businessman Albert Kookesh has filed to challenge Republican District 1 Senator Bert Stedman for leadership of a new district created after reapportionment.

The new district, currently named “District Q,” encompasses Wrangell, Ketchikan, Haines, Angoon, Sitka, Hoonah, Prince of Wales Island and a number of other small towns and villages in Southeast Alaska.

Kookesh, a Democrat, said representing the new district, if elected, would be a big change for him.

“I’d be going from 129...