Despite belonging to different political parties and legislative caucuses, Rep. Genevieve Mina and Rep. David Nelson have much in common: the former UAA classmates are both political science graduates, the only twenty-somethings currently serving in the Alaska Legislature, represent neighboring Anchorage districts and share a passion for community.

Green & Gold News caught up with Rep. Mina, B.A. Political Science ’23, and Rep. Nelson, B.A. Political Science ’18, about their experience at UAA and with the legislature. Read the abridged transcript below.

Could you share a little bit about yourselves? Where did you grow up? What was your journey to UAA?

Rep. Genevieve Mina: I was born in Anchorage, a lifelong resident. UAA was the university just around the corner, and as I grew up, I was mindful of wanting to start college in a way that was financially accessible. I've also always loved living in Anchorage, and I never thought about living anywhere else. It just made sense that if I had the financial opportunities and UAA had really solid programs, like the biology program and the debate program, that I would go to UAA.

Rep. David Nelson: My story is a little bit different. I was born and raised near a small town in Orlando, Florida. I graduated high school from there and wanted to find a good place to join the military. So, I came up to UAA for my degree, and then was commissioned into the military from the ROTC program.

What inspired you to run for office? Was it something you thought about as a UAA student?

Rep. Mina: For me, I think it was just a long journey of realizing that the role of public service and specifically, this job as a legislator — was like a manifestation of everything that I've always loved doing. I mentioned earlier that I never thought about moving out of Alaska or going to any other university. I've always had a strong sense of community. I love doing debate because I love learning about different topics and thinking about different perspectives. As I started to get involved in politics, I loved learning about different issues and connecting with people who cared about those issues. And as I got further involved in government politics and my community, I realized that the work of a public servant is really about putting together people and ideas and making good things happen.

Then, when I did my legislative internship, I got a taste of what it was like to really be in the Capitol, and I loved it. I always loved working in the Capitol, but I put that aside and I thought I had to have a real career in order to run for office. But really, a lot of it is hard work and a lot of it is luck. I was really fortunate to represent the district in the area that I've always lived in. On top of that, it was just a happenstance of redistricting and the position opening up where I realized that I never wanted to force myself to run for office when I was a young person, but for me it was just if the timing was right, and the timing happened to be right around when I'd worked in the Legislature as a staffer. I'd been around, and I knew how the process worked. I'd been involved in my community, and I felt like it wasn't about if I wanted to do the job, but I felt that I had done the work to earn the trust of the people around me and my neighbors, to be able to run.

Rep. Nelson: It really wasn't something I thought of as a student. I was working while attending UAA. I was working for Sen. Murkowski in her Anchorage office and got to see both sides of the political sphere, both campaigning and then working in her senatorial office, so it never really clicked that I wanted to run for office myself.

After a little bit, I think it was about a year-and-a-half after I graduated from UAA, my then-girlfriend, now fiancée, who's also a UAA grad, was jogging in the district, and a person approached her and tried to assault her. Luckily, she escaped, but she got really shaken up by the incident. I went through all the proper procedures. And I was essentially told that there really wasn't much that I could do. There really wasn't much that would happen. I was only about 23 years old, and I was like, "I don't think anyone's really listening to me. So, I'm going to put my name in the hat and try to change stuff to make sure this doesn't happen again, or to make sure people in the district really hear from the legislators to have a voice for the people."

I initially thought it would only be me, my girlfriend and maybe a few other people who'd vote for me. But after a while, just talking to neighbors and people who lived in the district about what I wanted to do and what the current legislator was doing wrong, I ended up winning both the primary and the general election with really, really close results.

Are there lessons or ideas from your studies that still guide your decisions today?

Rep. Nelson: The biggest one for me was from Professor Signé: It's great to look at something from your own viewpoint, but really take a step back and see, "Hey, if the shoe was on the other foot, what would your actions look like? And how would those be perceived?" That definitely helps in a bill hearing, or committee room or even just on the floor. 

Rep. Mina: It would be from Steve Johnson, the main debate coach at UAA for a very long time and a communications professor. One of the things that he really stresses with the debate team and his introductory debate class is that everybody has the same values. We just prioritize them differently. And I love that perspective. I think about that all the time, and I feel like it's a lot more grounding as a legislator because we come at a lot of different issues, and a lot of them are really controversial. It's a great way to give yourself a check and hold yourself accountable to this idea. It's not that this person doesn't care about that value, but we just think about these things and what's important to us differently.

What issues are you most passionate about, and how do you see them informing your work in the next few years?

Rep. Mina: I'm really passionate about health care access. My family are all health care workers. I believe that health is the greatest equalizer among all of us, and it's really, really complicated. I spent a lot of my years, starting as an intern in the legislature and then now as a legislator, just looking at all of these different sides of health care and health policy, and making sure that we're creating a state that really invests and supports our most vulnerable, but then also gives them the opportunity to have self-determination and to thrive in the ways that they want. All of those issues are really important to me. 

Rep. Nelson: My big areas of expertise are military and veterans' issues. I was commissioned from UAA and Alaska National Guard, and actually became a captain. I also represent Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson as part of my constituency, so military issues and veteran issues are always really close to my heart, just because I know those are my brothers and sisters in arms. I got to watch out for them, and being one of the few legislators who have military experience, I take that personally. But then also, as one of the youngest legislators in state history, I always try to look for what I can do to help the next generation. Not necessarily what's going to be beneficial right now, but things that are going to be beneficial for us 10-20 years in the future. Things that aren't really getting paid much attention to right now or might be hard to understand for older legislators, I feel like that's something I can come into and really expand on for the new generations.

As members of different parties and different caucuses, what potential do you see for collaboration?

Rep. Mina: I think the biggest thing is what David was talking about in terms of issues that younger people have more familiarity with. Everything related to tech and AI, which is a really big and dynamic issue that is going to impact our entire society. It's really great to have younger people who've grown up in Web 2.0 and having Internet access, to be able to have those different perspectives of how we regulate a new realm.

Workforce, I think, is the other one. The biggest issue in Alaska is related to outmigration and us losing people within the 25-to-45-year bracket. It's interesting having colleagues who are outside of that age bracket and who are all invested in trying to strategize and find ways to attract and retain those populations here. But those are the ages of David and I. And so, I think a lot of our perspective is really helpful when it comes to the workforce because it's not just about these different policies, etc. These are our friends who've left the state. I think we bring a more personal side to the culture with what we're hearing from our peers.

Rep. Nelson: The big thing is just for bipartisanship. I've always thought that bipartisanship should be number one. There's a lot that I identify with: we all want to go to that same point; we just have different ways of getting there. I always make it a point to get around regardless of whether someone is in the majority or minority. Whatever position I'm in or whatever the position of someone I'm talking to, I want us to understand each other and find wherever we can meet in the middle. Let's really try to run with that and get some good legislation done for our constituents in the State of Alaska. Already, Genevieve and I have talked about things that necessarily impact our generation and that might be a little harder to chew or understand for the older generation. I've always prided myself on working together, regardless of political parties.

What legacy do you hope to leave as a legislator?

Rep. Mina: I hope to leave a legacy where people feel like they have a voice in the legislature, especially people who have never been interested in or even feel distrustful of government. I think the more that we can engage people around us — especially people that we don't usually see in the legislature — to feel like they have a voice in the process and that their voice actually matters, the better our democracy and our state becomes.

Rep. Nelson: Yeah, I would say that same thing, really making engagement a priority and seeing the legislature become more approachable, but also just bringing back positivity. There are some serious moments in the legislature and some downer moments where you get sad. But we're doing an exciting job here in the legislature, and we should be happy about it. We get to represent the people who elected us, regardless of whether they voted for us or not, and so bringing back positivity. That's the legacy I hope to leave whenever I decide to be done with the legislature.