About Brandon
My name is Brandon Putuuqti Kowalski.
Putuuqti is my Iñupiaq name.
I’m running to represent Interior Alaska in the state legislature.
My family has deep roots in Alaska. I was raised in the rural village of Kotzebue until my family moved to Fairbanks when I was 12. I graduated here from West Valley High School and the University of Alaska Fairbanks with a degree in Biology.
As a graduate student at UAF, I saw first-hand the way state budget cuts to education impacted the University’s ability to retain qualified educators and provide a quality education to young Alaskans.
Both of my parents were educators and I understand the importance of funding our schools and supporting our educators to give children the education they deserve.
I left graduate school to pursue a career in the trades and got my start as a union member with the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 375. I am now a certified structural welder with three brothers in the trades.
As a tradesman, I am a strong supporter of unions and working Alaskans.
I will stand with working and rural Alaskans by working to support unions, grow responsible economic development and high paying jobs, balance the budget to grow the PFD, and fund public services through revenue solutions that DON’T fall on working and rural Alaskans.
As someone from a rural village, I know that subsistence means more than just filling our freezers for the winter – it is a way of life that needs to be protected for future generations.
I will fight for our children's future by by protecting our salmon and caribou, preserving access to subsistence for rural Alaskans, and elevating Alaska Native/tribal voices at the state level.