Les Gara

Leslie S. Gara (born February 6, 1963) is a Democratic former member of the Alaska House of Representatives, having represented the 23rd District from 2003 to 2019. Gara is also a former assistant attorney general and part owner of a local restaurant in Anchorage, Snow City Cafe.^[1]

Les Gara
Member of the Alaska House of Representatives from the 23rd district
In office January 20, 2003 – January 15, 2019
Preceded by	Eldon Mulder
Succeeded by	Zack Fields
Personal details
Born	(1963-02-06) February 6, 1963 (age 62) New York City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Kelly Gara
Education	Boston University (BA) Harvard University (JD)

Gara graduated from Boston University in 1985 with a Bachelor of Arts in history. He then earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1988.^[2] He is of Iraqi-Jewish descent.^[3]

In June 2018, Gara announced he would not be running for re-election.^[4]

On September 21, 2021, Gara announced that he would run for governor in 2022. He has criticized incumbent governor Mike Dunleavy for cutting funding for public education at the University of Alaska system. He supports "responsible development" of oil and has vowed to improve energy efficiency standards and address climate change,^[1] while opposing construction of Pebble Mine to protect fisheries.^[5] He also has pledged to protect access to Abortion in Alaska.^[5]

He supports ranking former governor Bill Walker second in the governor's election under Ranked-choice voting.^[5]