Jerry Ward

An Alaska Native born in Anchorage, Alaska, Ward served in the United States Navy during the Vietnam War and was in the Navy Seabees. Ward was in the real estate business.

In 1982, Ward was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives as a Republican, serving from 1983 until 1985.

In 1990, he won the Alaska Independence Party primary for Lt. Governor. However, he and his running mate, gubernatorial candidate John Howard Lindauer, stepped aside in favor of former Governor Walter Hickel, and the defecting Republican lieutenant gubernatorial candidate, state Senator Jack Coghill, who won the general election over ex-Anchorage Mayor, Democrat Tony Knowles and state Senator Willie Hensley, with Republican state Senator Arliss Sturgulewski finishing third.

In 1996 and 2000 he won elections to the Alaska State Senate.[1][2]

In 1998, running again for statewide office, he joined now-Republican Lindauer as his lieutenant governor candidate. Thanks in part to a campaign financing scandal, their ticket finished far behind incumbent Governor Knowles and third behind a write-in candidate, state senator Robin L. Taylor.

Ward was defeated for reelection in 2002 by prison opponent and City of Kenai mayor Tom Wagoner of the Republican Moderate Party. He lost again in 2004 to Wagoner, by then a Republican.[3]

In 2006, Ward ran once more for Lt. Governor in the Republican primary, but was defeated by Sean Parnell.[4]

While in the state senate, Ward was heavily involved in repeated, unsuccessful attempts to build a for-profit prison in Alaska.[5][6] Those schemes eventually resulted in federal criminal prosecutions of executives and legislators.[7] Although Ward was still under investigation as of 2009, he was never charged.[8]

Ward ran Donald Trump's 2016 campaign in Alaska, was rewarded with a position in the Department of Education, but resigned not long afterward.[9]

• Jerry Ward at 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature