Jim Sykes

Jim Sykes

Member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly from District 1
In office October 2013 (2013-10) – November 2019 (2019-11)
Preceded by	Warren Keogh
Succeeded by	Tim Hale

Personal details
Born	James L. Sykes (1950-04-08) April 8, 1950 (age 74) Rapid City, South Dakota, U.S.
Political party	Green
Residence	Palmer, Alaska

James L. Sykes (born April 8, 1950)^[1]^[2]^[3] is a producer and elected official in the state of Alaska, who helped found the Green Party of Alaska.

Early life and career

Sykes was born in Rapid City, South Dakota and moved to Alaska ca. 1976. Sykes spent many years living and working in both Anchorage and Talkeetna. Sykes's professional experience includes work for the Alaska Native Review Commission, public radio stations KSKA and KTNA, and as executive director of the Alaska Public Interest Research Group. He homesteaded in the community of Chase, near Talkeetna, and help to found the Chase Community Council. He and his wife currently live near Palmer in a solar-powered straw-bale house.^[3]

Green Party activism

In 1990, Sykes became one of the founders of the Green Party of Alaska. As a result, Sykes initiated a lawsuit, Sykes v. Alaska, relying heavily upon case law established in the earlier ballot access lawsuits of Joe Vogler during the 1970s and 1980s. The lawsuit allowed the Green Party onto the ballot in similar fashion to the original ballot access status of the Alaskan Independence Party prior to its becoming a recognized political party. This lawsuit also led to the lessening of the threshold needed to become recognized as a political party in Alaska. In the 1990 gubernatorial election, Sykes ran as the Green Party nominee and garnered 3.3% of the vote. This established Alaska as the first state to obtain ballot access for the Green Party in the United States.

Sykes continued to be active in Green Party politics, running for the U.S. Senate twice, in 2002 and 2004, receiving 7.24% of the vote in 2002^[4] and 2.22% in 2004.^[5]

Mat-Su Borough Assembly

In 2013, Sykes ran against Doug Glenn for an open seat in district 1 on the nonpartisan borough assembly of Matanuska-Susitna Borough. District 1 covers the eastern portion of the borough and includes Butte, Lazy Mountain, South Knik River, Farm Loop, South Fishhook, Buffalo Soapstone, Sutton, Chickaloon, Glacier View and Lake Louise.^[6] On October 1, 2013 Sykes won by 69 votes.^[7] He succeeded Warren Keogh. Sykes did not run for reelection in the 2019 election. Tim Hale defeated Brian Endle for the district 1 seat.^[8]

Electoral history

Mat-Su Borough Assembly Election 2013, District 1
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Jim Sykes	1,112	51.6
	Independent	Doug Glenn	1,043	48.4
Total votes			2,155	100

United States Senate election in Alaska, 2004^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Lisa Murkowski (inc.)	149,773	48.58%	-25.91%
	Democratic	Tony Knowles	140,424	45.55%	+25.82%
	Independent	Marc J. Millican	8,885	2.88%
	Independence	Jerry Sanders	3,785	1.23%
	Green	Jim Sykes	3,053	0.99%	2.22%
	Libertarian	Scott A. Kohlhaas	1,240	0.40%	-1.87%
	Independent	Ted Gianoutsas	732	0.24%
	Write-ins		423	0.14%
Majority			9,349	3.03%	-51.74%
Turnout			308,315
	Republican hold		Swing

United States Senate election in Alaska, 2002^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Ted Stevens (inc.)	179,438	78.17%	+1.46%
	Democratic	Frank Vondersaar	24,133	10.51%	+0.17%
	Green	Jim Sykes	16,608	7.24%	-5.29%
	Independence	Jim Dore	6,724	2.93%
	Libertarian	Leonard Karpinski	2,354	1.03%
	Write-ins		291	0.13%
Majority			155,305	67.66%	+3.47%
Turnout			229,548
	Republican hold		Swing

1994 gubernatorial election, Alaska^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Tony Knowles	87,693	41.08	+10.2
	Republican	Jim Campbell	87,157	40.84	+14.7
	Independence	Jack Coghill	27,838	13.04	-25.8
	Green	Jim Sykes	8,727	4.09	+0.7
	Patriot	Ralph Winterrowd	1,743	0.82	+0.3
	Write-ins		277	0.13	-0.0
Majority			536	0.24	-7.7
Turnout			213,435	63.5	-1.3
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing	-36.01

1990 gubernatorial election, Alaska^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independence	Walter Hickel	75,721	38.88	+33.3
	Democratic	Tony Knowles	60,201	30.91	-16.4
	Republican	Arliss Sturgulewski	50,991	26.18	-16.4
	Green	Jim Sykes	6,563	3.37	N/A
	The Political Party	Michael O'Callaghan	942	0.48	N/A
	Write-in votes		332	0.17	-3.8
Majority			15,520	7.97	+3.3
Turnout			194,750
	Independence gain from Democratic		Swing	-49.70

References

^ "Defendant - Summary (3AN-07-10273MO Municipality of Anchorage vs. Sykes, James L)". CourtView. Alaska Court System. Archived from the original on April 2, 2012. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
^ "Reports Image Index for Candidate ID: S2AK00093". Washington: Federal Election Commission. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b State of Alaska Official Election Pamphlet (PDF) (Region III ed.). Juneau: Alaska Division of Elections. 2004. p. 34. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
^ ^a ^b Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 2002" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 2.
^ ^a ^b Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 2004" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
^ "District 1".
^ 'Sykes, Beck win seats on Mat-Su Assembly', Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, 11 October 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
^ Rockey, Tim (November 12, 2019). "Borough releases final election results". Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
^ "1994 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Alaska". Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
^ "1990 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Alaska" (PDF). Alaska Division of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-31.