Alaska lawmakers signal opposition to Denali name change in resolution

JUNEAU — The Alaska House voted Monday to adopt a resolution urging President Donald Trump to reconsider his executive order renaming the tallest peak in North America.

The bipartisan House majority sought to quickly move a measure that would signal to the Trump administration that Alaskans opposed his idea of changing the name of the mountain from Denali back to Mt. McKinley, an action Trump ordered during his first day in office.

The mountain had been named for former President William McKinley — who never visited Alaska — until in 2015 the name was formally changed to Denali by executive order from former President Barack Obama. Alaska politicians had long sought to name the peak Denali, which derives from the Koyukon Athabaskan word meaning “high one.”

The Interior Department made the name change official within days of the Trump order, though Trump had allowed 30 days for the change to be implemented.

The name has become a political litmus test during the first days of the Trump administration. Trump carried Alaska resoundingly in November, and Alaska politicians have largely celebrated his orders encouraging more resource development, after the Biden administration sought to slow or block resource extraction as part of an effort to slow climate change and promote environmental protections.

[Denali vs. McKinley: A brief history of the long debate over what to call North America’s highest mountain]

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, who is Alaska Native, said “time is of the essence” in sending a message to Alaska’s congressional delegation urging them to speak to Trump about reversing his order. Rep. Louise Stutes, a Kodiak Republican who serves in the House majority, said that the order renaming Denali could be seen as “federal overreach.”

“The name Denali has become an Alaska landmark. It courses through the business community, it courses through our vernacular at the state level. It’s a part of who we are,” said Edgmon, a Dillingham independent.

The House voted 28-10 to adopt the resolution. The ten lawmakers who opposed the resolution were Republicans who sought to signal their support for Trump. Two House Republicans were absent Monday from the chamber.

“I don’t want it to get lost on just the name of the mountain. I want to be able to support our executive branch, our President Trump and our Vice President Vance,” said Rep. Jamie Allard, an Eagle River Republican who voted against the resolution.

[Alaskans say Trump can change the name of Denali but can’t make people call it Mount McKinley]

Seven other Republicans joined the bipartisan House majority coalition — which is comprised mostly of Democrats and independents — in supporting the resolution, which asks members of the congressional delegation to lobby the executive branch against the name change.

Alaska’s two Republican U.S. senators — Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan — have already indicated they support keeping the name Denali. Alaska’s lone U.S. House member Rep. Nick Begich, who has closely aligned himself with Trump, has not taken a clear position on the issue. Begich told Politico last week that “what people in the Lower 48 call Denali is not of my concern.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who has also closely aligned with Trump, said he would try to discuss the order directly with Trump during a trip to Washington, D.C. next month.

Members of the House Republican minority tried Monday to amend the resolution to also praise Trump for another executive order he issued, which directs federal agencies to change policies affecting Alaska’s resource development industry. Republicans said that including positive references to those orders would better reflect Alaskans’ positions on the Trump administration more broadly.

But the amendment failed in a 21-17 vote, with all majority members opposed.

Rep. Chuck Kopp of Anchorage, one of two Republicans in the House majority, said that most Alaskans likely support Trump’s executive orders on resource development, but that the Denali resolution should be kept separate.

“It’s a fair proposition that we say we don’t want that message to be diluted or trivialized,” said Kopp.

The House is expected to hold its final vote on the measure later this week. A similar resolution is also under consideration in the Alaska Senate.