Interview with Fairbanks City, Alaska, Mayor Mindy O’Neall
How a data-driven ground game and focus on local issues helped flip a Republican-leaning Alaska town
TL;DR
Disparaging remarks about the Indigenous community pushed O’Neall from assembly member to mayoral candidate — proving sometimes the best candidates turn anger into action and hope.
In a red district, O’Neall knew focusing on what mattered to her community would be her path forward — a strategy she says Democrats should widely adopt.
While her team of first-time campaigners (who were architects, not politicos) handled everything else, O’Neall spent every day knocking doors — and the data-driven approach paid off.
We empower future leaders with the skills they need to succeed — because we believe anyone who cares is qualified to make change. Fairbanks City Mayor Mindy O’Neall embodies that mission wholeheartedly, last month flipping her once “unwinnable” Alaska district blue. She joined us in conversation to discuss the moment she knew she had to run, her plans to involve community organizers in government, and her advice to other candidates trying to do the “impossible.”
NDTC: What inspired you to run for office? What was the biggest thing that drove you to take that leap of faith?
Mindy O’Neall: I was elected as a borough assembly member for the past six and a half years, after first being appointed. And I got to be elected in the way that so many of us do, which is by somebody who asked me to do it. There was an open vacancy. And they said, ‘Would you mind doing this? Would you put your name in? We think you’d be great.’ So I did. And that was really the first time I had thought about actually being an elected instead of staff that was working in the background. I liked supporting my boss.
And then my term was going to end in October. And the past mayor had made some pretty disparaging remarks about our Indigenous community in reference to our homelessness population. And it really offended me. And that was the moment where I was just like, I’m going to run against this guy. It’s 2025. Our community deserves somebody who understands the implications of a comment like that. And, you know, even giving someone some grace for something posted on social media that may have been taken out of context or even not meaning that way, he wasn’t able to apologize in a way that was meaningful.
I think that we deserve better leaders. And so I ran and was inspired, unfortunately, because of that event.
NDTC: Can you say more about why that hit so close to home or struck a chord with you?
Mindy O’Neall: When I think about what some of my core values are, justice is a big one. I just feel very responsible for making sure that people are treated with respect and given the dignity that they deserve, every single person. And because that Indigenous culture is so rich in our community and throughout our state, it was just really offensive to me the way that was handled.
NDTC: Your election was a surprise in a district considered unwinnable for Democrats — what advice do you have for other Democrats facing a similar situation?
Mindy O’Neall: This was a nonpartisan election. We rarely talked about the fact that I’m a Democrat. We’re a small town, we’re a small community. I’ve been involved in the Democratic Party. I’ve run campaigns statewide. It’s not a secret that I’m a Democrat. I don’t shy away from that belief system. But we didn’t lean into that because of the issues. And we really leaned into the issues where we could connect with people on a local, personal level that would make sense to them to participate in their local government in a time when it feels like our influence on politics is so minimal. And we definitely worked very closely with the Indigenous population. We definitely organized with different groups around town that were small but mighty.
And because of that, because we kept to the issues, and we didn’t defame the opponent, we talked about what was important to the constituents and to our community. And I would say that that’s what we should be focusing on as Democrats across the country.
NDTC: You come to the job with experience as a state party staffer, you were the Alaska Coordinated Director in 2022, and you also have experience in the movement space. How did that inform your run?
Mindy O’Neall: It was greatly beneficial. I think that generally, there’s two different types of public servants. There’s those that really enjoy the campaigning side, and then there’s those who really enjoy the policy and governance side. Obviously, you have to like both of them enough to do it. But because of the work that I had done, the training that I had gotten through the Democratic Party and other entities, we knew how to organize. We knew how to use VAN and NGP. We knew how to look at the numbers. And my campaign team really kept out emotional decisions. We relied heavily on what the data was telling us. We relied heavily on what that database was telling us. So we focused on where we can make the greatest impact based on the scores and what type of messaging would be relatable across all different types of political parties, and really just kept it local.
NDTC: Well, you are only two days into your new role. What are you most excited about?
Mindy O’Neall: I am so excited to be a leader of a community that welcomes everybody, that has a door that’s open and accessible to anybody who wants to participate in local government. And in the past, that just hasn’t been the case. It’s been kind of the same type of leader, the same type of person that has been running our community. And because of that, City Hall has seemed inaccessible and elitist in a way. But I’m so excited to open the doors and bring different folks to the table who have so much to offer, who are already community-building in our community, into City Hall to build up our area even stronger.
NDTC: There are always new things to learn. What do you wish you’d known ahead of time in this run that you could pass down to people who are maybe a few months behind you in their campaign?
Mindy O’Neall: I really wish I had known how much time is a resource. And it’s easy to get lost in a campaign, especially when there’s so much going on and you’re feeling overwhelmed. And sometimes I think there’s a tendency to just freeze and stop. But in a campaign, all you have is time. So, really understanding the value of your time and moving along to make sure that every conversation you’re having at the door, in public, at the grocery store, and in the grocery line is meaningful and directly relates back to the campaign.
NDTC: Where do you think an org like NDTC fits in the current environment?
Mindy O’Neall: I think it’s really important that we continue to invest in modernizing our campaign tactics. And I think in a state like Alaska, where we have very limited resources, we generally are a smaller party than the Republican Party in size and in funding. I think tuning into what the trends are in campaigns and how we are winning campaigns is really important. And we get that information and training from an organization like [NDTC].
NDTC: Can you say more about how that played into your own campaign?
Mindy O’Neall: For us, it was tried and true. It was knocking on doors. That was my main job.
I knocked on doors. And as a candidate, I’d never been a candidate at that level before. In my assembly races, I was still making the social media posts and scheduling events and fundraising and sending out letters, and doing all of that organizing work. We really bifurcated the candidate from the rest of the campaign in the sense that I was on doors talking to voters every single day for no less than four hours a day, up to six hours a day. And the rest of the team was doing what we know. We did three mailers. We did social media posts. We got on Instagram. We got on TikTok. And we started using some of the techniques that we had seen win races and gain the interest of younger voters to elevate our own race. And I think having access to those training documents, my campaign team had never run a campaign before. They are not campaign people. They are architects, honestly. So they really used [NDTC] and these resources as guiding principles for them.
Mindy O’Neall knows that leadership is about bringing people together to solve problems, not splitting on the party line. And Fairbanks City, Alaska, just proved to know it, too. We’re working to make what happened in Fairbanks happen all over the country, and if you’re considering taking the leap to run — we want to work with you. Everything you need is 100% free and accessible in under 2 minutes when you make an account with us here. Every course, resource, and training you need is waiting for you.
P.S. Our office is closed next week, so we’ll be back in your inbox on 12/2 with more campaign tips and election insights!
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