Reisen Inaba

**Reisen Udongein Inaba Gonzalo** (born November 18, 1939) is an American Republican politician and physician who has served as the incumbent Governor of Alaska since 2022. After defeating incumbent Governor Mike Dunleavy in the primary, Inaba won the general election against former Independent Governor Bill Walker and Democratic nominee Les Gara. Inaba was sworn in on December 5th, 2022. She was previously U.S. Senator Ted Stevens's Chief of Staff from 1995 until 2003, and again from 2015 until she resigned to run in the August primary. She also served as General Counsel to Senator Stevens and the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. Reisen is the adopted daughter of Senator Stevens, being adopted alongside her sister Tewi after coming to Earth in 1969.

Reisen is described as a liberal Republican, although also characterized by her anxiety; she is known not to take radical positions on issues. She began her career as a delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention for Alaska, helping steer the Alaskan delegation towards Jack Kemp. She then chaired the 2004 Alaska RNC delegation. She was mentioned for the U.S. Senate in 2020 if Lisa Murkowski retired, but rumors were quashed early and Murkowski sought re-election. Similarly, Inaba has hinted at gubernatorial or U.S. House runs since her role in the 2000 RNC.

She had also previously been the Chief Medical Officer at Anchorage's Alaska Regional Hospital from 1979 until 1991. After this, she became Advisor to Governor Walter Hickel. She found joy in advisory service roles, and soon her father offered her a Congressional intern role. Congressmen decried her appointment in 1995 as corrupt, but Stevens successfully nominated her as his Chief of Staff. She remained in this role for 8 years, but as her father returned as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, she became General Counsel to the committee in 2003. Even as her father stepped down as chair to allow Thad Cochran his terms and to take the Commerce chairmanship instead, Stevens pressured the Republican Party to keep Inaba as Counsel. She remained in the job even as the Democrats won the majority in 2007, as a favor from chairman Daniel Inouye, who was Stevens' closest friend in the Senate. However, after Inouye died in 2012, Barbara Mikulski took control of the chair, and fired Inaba effective at the end of that Congress a few weeks later, ending her term on January 3, 2013, a decade after it had started.

Inaba refused to be appointed to her father's staff again, originally retiring from politics. Her retirement was cut short by her self-reported "boredom", eventually agreeing to serve as her father's Chief of Staff again, although she was offered the Counsel role as he took the Chairmanship of the committee once again. As Chief of Staff she was marred by a minor scandal where her sister Tewi broke into a joint sitting of the Alaska State Legislature and doused multiple members of the legislature with water buckets. As some members fled, they tripped over their tied shoelaces, tied together on either foot. Reisen released a press statement apologizing for the incident.

In 2021, Reisen began to grow discontent for Governor Mike Dunleavy's policies, confiding to her father that she believed he was too distant from his "political machine". Despite Stevens expressing his discomfort with what he believed to be an "arrogant narrative" that he "controlled the state", he nevertheless gave her his blessing and endorsement to challenge Dunleavy for Governor on her insistance. She did not attack Dunleavy much publicly however, instead choosing to focus on her own merits. Even as Inaba won the gubernatorial nomination in August, her campaigning came to a stop as Stevens died of heart failure in September. Her brother, Ben, campaigned on her behalf while serving as U.S. Senator, but he too passed in October. Nevertheless, Inaba won the November election and was sworn in the next month.

Inaba's policies as Governor have been derided as confusing and even bordering insanity, though her personality is often described as charming and even "cute" by journalists. She is praised for "representing good government", but also derided for her lack of dominance and leadership, taking a more solo, subordinate position instead while governing. She is known for her general silence in office, and while she has been mentioned as a potential Senate candidate for her expertise, many question whether her shy approach is more of a drawback than a benefit. Despite all of this, she regularly polls as one of the most popular Governors in the United States.