Local business owner Sherri Blankenship filed to run for a seat on the Sitka Assembly last week (8-5-26).
Blankenship is a nutritionist and owner of Highliner Coffee. She ran for an assembly seat last year, narrowly losing to incumbent Thor Christianson.
KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Blankenship on Monday (8-10-26) to discuss her bid for a seat and what her priorities would be, if elected.
TRANSCRIPT:
KCAW: This is your second time running for the assembly. Tell me a bit about that decision.
BLANKENSHIP: Well, I have the same desire to run for assembly this year that I did last year. I have the same goals, and I was pretty close last time, within just a handful of votes. It was disappointing, but at the same time, I felt like that was a growing experience because I went the route that mentors told me to do, which is join commissions, be more involved, and that’s what I did all this year, is I grew.
KCAW: So tell me a little bit about how you’ve been more involved.
BLANKENSHIP: I joined the tourism commission. I feel like I have an indirect-facing business to tourism, but it affects my business in some ways. But I have a neutral position in a lot of ways because I know what tourism does for our town, but I also represent everyone, and I want it to be comfortable at the same time. So I don’t want it to be the only industry that we focus on.
KCAW: There are a lot of issues facing Sitkans right now. What do you see as some of the biggest? And if elected to the assembly seat, how would you help solve those?
BLANKENSHIP: I really haven’t seen the needle move much from last year. I really think that all of those issues that we concentrated on last year are still remaining. We’re still dealing with them, and I don’t really expect that we would have them solved by now. But I would really like to see that needle move a little faster. I do believe that we also need to focus on wellness in general for our community. Mental health is really important, and I would like to see better programs, or the programs that are existing to be more bolstered, more supported, and [not only] supported by business, but supported by our city as well. So that is one of the areas that I want to concentrate on.
KCAW: You mentioned some of these issues that have been affecting Sitkans for a long time, including last year. For those who might not have been in the loop last year during election time, or are new to town, can you expand on some of those issues that you’re talking about?
BLANKENSHIP: Well, we’ve always had a housing issue, but the issues that we’ve been dealing with as a community is housing, economics, as far as being economically healthy, supporting local industry, making sure that they’re all supported the way that they need to be, and also [that] small businesses have the support that they need. But the cost of living is another issue that we’re dealing with, and that one’s a hard one because that’s not something that we can change necessarily on the assembly. You know, that is something that we have to be empathetic to our residents and know what they’re dealing with, and try to come up with more ways to bring money into our community so that in the end, it can bring down the cost of living.
KCAW: And as you mentioned, last year, you just narrowly lost in the election. Why should Sitkans vote for you this year?
BLANKENSHIP: I know that I represent a larger demographic here in Sitka. I have four children that have gone through, two that remain in the school district, two grown children, and I also own a business. I’ve also not owned a business while I lived in this town, so I’ve seen all levels and phases of living here. I’ve lived here for 22 years, actually almost 23, and I can say that I think that I represent that middle ground where I still am young enough to represent the younger crowd, and I’m old enough to know what those struggles were and survive them, but I’m also not too old to be out of touch.
KCAW: Is there anything else that you think Sitkans should know about you before the municipal election this October?
BLANKENSHIP: I’ve grown a lot, I think. I think in this last year, I took a lot of direction to heart. I’ve learned to listen a lot more, and I think that is really important when being on the assembly. Being able to listen closer to the larger group and see what those needs are, and be able to change your mind if you get new information that would validate a change. And I believe that’s a metric that has definitely changed with me, and I’ve seen that growth, and I think reflection is really important.
