An exciting and close race that the entire nation is watching is the Alaska Senate race between incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Begich and his opponent Dan Sullivan, a former Alaska attorney general and head of the state’s Department of Natural Resources.
Begich has been a champion of multifamily issues and serves as chairman of the Senate Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, one of two leadership committees in the Senate focused on fostering a dialogue between Senate Democrats and industry leaders nationwide. To date, NMHC has participated in three of the committee’s roundtable discussions on topics that included housing finance reform, private-public partnerships, and infrastructure development and job creation.
In addition, Begich sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes the legislation that allocates federal funds annually to HUD and numerous other government agencies, departments and organizations.
He has supported legislation that directly impacts the multifamily industry, including the National Flood Insurance Program Reform bill, signed into law in March 2014, and Senate passage of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization in July 2014. He co-sponsored the Housing Finance Reform and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2013 centered on reforming the housing finance system in a way that maintains the federal role in the mortgage finance system, as well as favorable treatment for multifamily. Begich also serves on the Commerce, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs Committees.
Industry leaders Brian Murdy of Institutional Property Advisors and Geoffrey Stack of SARES-REGIS Group will be hosting a luncheon fundraiser in San Francisco on September 24 to assist with Begich’s Senate bid. For more information, please contact Vice President of Political Affairs Lisa Costello at lcostello@nmhc.org or (202) 974-2325.