The Democrats in the Alaska House of Representatives and Governor Bill Walker moved at a brisk pace to replace late Representative Max Gruenberg’s seat as the representative for House District 16 this week, and the district’s new representative, Ivy Spohnholz will officially take her seat when the State House convenes for their floor session on Thursday.

Governor Walker chose from a short list of three names, Ivy Spohnholz, Kendra Kloster, and Taylor Brelsford, that were submitted to the governor’s office by the House District 16 Nominating Committee, and appointed Spohnholz on Tuesday. Spohnholz’s name was sent to the Democrats in the Alaska House of Representatives, and they quickly approved the governor’s choice.

The Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition will introduce her at a press conference on Thursday morning at 8:30 am at the Fahrenkamp Room of the Capital Building in Juneau, before she takes her seat during the House Floor session later tomorrow.

The late Representative Max Gruenberg, aged 72, passed away at home, after an evening with his family and friends on February 14th after decades in the House. Representative Gruenberg was one of the longest serving members of the Alaska Legislature.  He served in the Alaska House of Representatives from 1985 to 1993 and again from 2003 until 2016.  Representative Gruenberg also served twice as the House Majority Leader and was currently serving as the Whip for the Alaska Independent Democratic Coalition when he passed away.

When chosen, Spohnholz worked as the development Director of the Salvation Army in Anchorage as well as the vice-chairwoman of the Alaska Children’s Trust. [xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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