In his more than five years as lead organizer for Anchorage, Alaska, Local 1547, Chris Tuck honed his skills at connecting with people and talking union with working Alaskans from different walks of life. Now he’s brought those skills, along with his lifelong commitment to working families, to the state house in Juneau.

Tuck, a Democrat, was elected to the state legislature last November, prevailing in a district of Anchorage that has a more than 2 to 1 GOP advantage by a razor-thin majority of less than 300 votes.

“My vision for Alaska is one that many people support, where Alaska is a place for meaningful jobs and opportunities for families,” Tuck said about his open seat challenge.

Tuck started his IBEW career at an electrical supply house more than 20 years ago. Because of the bad economy in Alaska at the time, he had to wait more than eight years before he was sponsored into an apprenticeship. But he knew that an IBEW membership card was worth waiting for.

His mother, a former hairdresser and single parent who moved to Alaska from California when Tuck was five, got a job as a secretary with the state government and the decent salary and health benefits provided by her union kept her and her son out of poverty.

“The union put us in the middle class,” he said.

Tuck was always interested in politics, and in 2004 he made his first run for public office, taking on a long-entrenched incumbent state representative, Ralph Samuels, in the district he now represents. “Even though I knew I would lose, I talked with voters about issues that hadn’t been discussed before,” he said. “The state was slashing health care for kids and financial support for seniors and I couldn’t sit and take it anymore. We educated the public and brought people together to find solutions.”

No one gave Tuck a chance but in the end, his cash-starved grassroots campaign netted him nearly 40 percent of the vote.

While falling short, Tuck got both his name and his issues out there. He was appointed by then-Anchorage mayor, now U.S. Sen. Mark Begich to the city’s Education Workforce Advisory Council, helping to oversee Anchorage’s school budget and its adult job training program.

Tuck had been active in school affairs ever since the birth of his son, who started the 11th grade last fall. “I knew someday he would be going to Anchorage schools so it was important to be involved.”

In 2007 he made another run for office, this time for the Anchorage School Board. With some help from his IBEW brothers and sisters, Tuck pulled in 67 percent of the vote, gaining him a seat on the board that oversees more than 50,000 students.

He planned to serve for at least three terms, but developments in his home district changed his plans. Samuels, the legislator in his district, was getting ready to retire.

Seeing an opportunity to pick up an open seat, the state Democratic Party convinced Tuck to get into the race.

Tuck has found that his union experience has served him well in the realm of elected politics.

“We focus on pocketbook issues of our constituents and we’re always held accountable for our actions,” he said.

He is the second IBEW member serving in the state legislature. Sen. Bill
Wielechowski, associate general counsel for Local 1547, was elected to the state senate in 2006.

Tuck says his priorities are creating decent paying jobs for Alaskans, opening up more educational opportunities and finding low-cost solutions to the energy crisis.

“Everything organized labor has won, we’ve had to fight for,” he said. “People elected me to continue to fight for the things that help working families.”