The Politics of Polarization: Republicans Behind Right-Wing Moms for Liberty Movement in Alaska

Note: The Moms for Liberty - Mat-Su leadership team declined to answer emailed questions about its membership numbers and activities, including whether the chapter was behind the surge of book challenges filed with the Matanuska Susitna Borough School District earlier this year.

Originating from their opposition to public health regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Moms for Liberty organization aligns itself with the parental rights movement and actively works against student inclusionary efforts. Embraced by the Republican Party, they lobby against LGBTQ+ and racially inclusive school curricula and advocate for the banning of books from school libraries. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled them an extremist organization, and allegations linking them to incidents of harassment and threats around the country are numerous.

On April 5, 2023, Moms for Liberty announced the opening of its Matanuska Borough chapter. Four registered Alaska Republicans have assumed pivotal leadership positions within the local construct. At the forefront of the Mat-Su chapter are Chair Melissa Wilkins, Vice Chair Lynn Hallford, Secretary Kali Ponder, and Treasurer Kelsey Shumway.

Two months after the announcement, Chair Melissa Wilkins testified at a June 7, 2023, meeting of the Mat-Su school board, lending her support for a right-wing initiative that sought to impose harmful policy changes on district students. Wilkins contended that the act of imparting knowledge about sexuality through library resources and educational materials, in the absence of "parental consent," was a grave transgression committed by educators, counselors, librarians, and other education professionals.

The true motives behind Wilkins' testimony remain shrouded in ambiguity. Was she speaking as a so-called "concerned parent," or was she masquerading as the influential Moms for Liberty Mat-Su Chair? And what about the sizeable gathering that evening—was it a meticulously orchestrated event staged by Moms for Liberty? We don't know because Moms for Liberty refuses to provide details about its political activities.

Vice Chair Lynn Hallford was among more than fifty registered Republican voters who supported Democrat Mark Begich's 2008 U.S. Senate campaign. More than a decade later, she's the listed assistant treasurer for the Mat-Su Republican Woman's Club, an affiliate of the Alaska Republican Party. Hallford has donated considerably to the Mat-Su Republican Woman's Club and prominent right-wing candidates, including Mike Shower, outspoken public education critic Kevin McCabe, and the disastrous gubernatorial campaign of Charlie Pierce and Edie Greenwald.

Hallford is also one of many Valley residents and Alaska GOP political operatives trying to save Anchorage. Since August 19, 2020, she has been a Save Anchorage member—a group that peddles conspiracy theories and has attempted to censor LGBTQ+ books from the Anchorage Public Library and Anchorage School District. Its members have defamed left-leaning Anchorage Assembly members, educators, school board members, and librarians as groomers and pedophiles who peddle child pornography.

Secretary Kali Ponder is the wife of former Mat-Su school board president, Ryan Ponder—one of three board members who called for amending its athletic policy to prevent transgender girls from competing on girls’ sports teams. The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska sent Ponder a letter last June calling the proposed policy "harmful, illegal, and unconstitutional." The ACLU said the policy would constitute illegal discrimination under the United States and Alaska Constitutions and Title IX.

Ponder also voted in support of banning transgender students in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District (MSBSD) from using bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity.

As COVID-19 swept through Alaska in 2021, pushing hospitals to the brink of collapse, Kali Ponder came out as a proponent of mask choice and expressed skepticism about COVID-19 reporting data. In one Facebook post and related comments, Ponder claimed that COVID-19-related hospitalization and death data were intentionally being skewed to "paint an incorrect picture that is founded in fear."

After MSBSD Superintendent Randy Traini sent an August '21 email emphasizing the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine for individuals aged 12 or older and delivered an update on the district's quarantine policy, Ponder criticized it, labeling the policy as being nothing short of "terrible."

Ponder is also a member of the Parents' Rights In Education Alaska chapter's Facebook group, which the Southen Poverty Law Center has designated an antigovernment group—defined as being part of the larger antidemocratic hard-right movement. Supporters of the movement believe the federal government is tyrannical and often traffic in conspiracy theories about an illegitimate government of leftist elites seeking a “New World Order.”

Treasurer Kelsey Shumway shares a familial relationship with her Moms for Liberty colleague, Lynn Hallford. On April 1, 2023, just days before Moms for Liberty announced the opening of its Mat-Su chapter, Shumway provided written testimony in support of Governor Dunleavy's discriminatory parental rights bill, HB 105.

In her email, Shumway shared Moms for Liberty talking points, stating that she was deeply troubled by educators who often overstepped their roles within the education system. "The government and our school districts are NOT CO-PARENTS," she wrote.

Last year, Shumway enthusiastically joined the ranks of Convention Yes—lending her name in support of a constitutional convention. Voters overwhelmingly rejected the constitutional convention question by a margin of more than 40 points.

We'll keep the lights off for you

As is often the case with right-wing organizations and groups who babble that educational institutions lack transparency, the Moms for Liberty - Mat-Su Facebook group remains private. They do, however, maintain a public social club page dedicated to sharing Moms for Liberty talking points. Curiously enough, or maybe not, this page avoids shedding any light on their actual activities in Alaska.

As an interesting aside, a link on the Moms for Liberty website encourages individuals to donate directly to its Mat-Su chapter. The link directs visitors to an Anedot donation page which warns individuals they are limited to contributing $3,300 per election to any candidate and their authorized political committees with respect to

And remember this fun fact, like the libertarian conservative political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, Moms for Liberty is organized as a 501(c)(4), meaning they are not legally required to disclose their donors.

Moms for Liberty Mat-Su's lack of transparency makes it difficult to determine the true impact of the organization's efforts to upend public education in the Matanuska Borough, but we do know that Moms for Liberty is gearing up to take over school boards in multiple states, and has promised to use its political action committee to engage in those races on a national level.

Despite the buzz circulating online about a potential Anchorage-based chapter of Moms for Liberty, there has been no concrete development thus far. However, it's worth noting that voters recently expressed their disapproval of parental rights-oriented Anchorage Assembly candidates in the city's most recent election. It's not clear how Moms for Liberty endorsed candidates would be received by voters in next year's school board races, but I'm going with—not favorably.