Anchorage lawyer and former mayor of Valdez, Bill Walker announced on Thursday that he is throwing his hat into the ring in the contest for governor next year.

Walker made his announcement in his home in west Anchorage where approximately 30 people were in attendance.

Walker finished second behind current governor Sean Parnell in 2010.

Governor Parnell has yet to reveal his plans for 2014. While he is still eligible to run for one more term as governor, he may still decide to run for the state’s senate seat against Democrat and current senator, Mark Begich as a Republican contender. Although Parnell is the Republican favorite in the attempt to defeat Begich, Lt Governor Treadwell and Joe Miller have already announced their intentions.

Walker said he is entering the race for governor because Alaska needs a strong, aggressive leader with a proven track record of putting Alaska’s interests first. “The only side of the boardroom table I have ever sat on is the Alaska side, and the only interests I have ever advanced are those of Alaskans,” Walker stated.

Walker is the son of Alaskan pioneers, Ed and Frances Walker, who came to Alaska in the 1940’s where Ed served in the Alaskan Scouts in the Aleutian Islands during WWII and Frances worked on the building of the AlCan Highway. Bill was born in Fairbanks and grew up in Delta Junction and Valdez where he worked alongside his dad and brother in their construction business starting at the age of eight, helping later to relocate and rebuild the town of Valdez after the devastating 1964 earthquake that took the lives of many of their friends and neighbors.

Walker still continues in his role in the bi-partisan Backbone group that he founded along with former Governor Hickel and David Gottstein. Backbone is a very vocal advocate of an all-Alaskan pipeline and a fair and reasonable tax on oil and gas development. His group has made known their disapproval of the current governor’s no-strings-attached tax plan for the oil companies.

The newly announced candidate is the host of the new Alaskan-produced TV show “On Point with Bill Walker. The show airs state-wide.

Walker’s campaign site is still under construction as of today.