It has been a week of success for Mike Chenault.
First, the longtime state representative beat a fellow Nikiski man, Rocky Knudsen, for the right to represent House District 29; then he was re-elected by his own party to be the Speaker of the House for a fourth term. Chenault holds the state’s record for the most consecutive terms as Speaker of the House.
Still, he’s humble about the position and joked that he’s not speaker of the house in his own home.
“I’m not even the rules chairman or the finance guy at my house,” he said with a laugh.
Chenault said he was not challenged for the seat this year, though there had been rumors that someone else from the within the Republican party would run.
“I think that I have the ability to get things done, I’m forceful when I need to be, but I’m fairly easy-going most of the time,” he said of why he won the position again.
The House Republicans have organized most of their party of the next session, Chenault said, though the group is still waiting for resolutions in the races of two of its members.
“We hope, naturally, they win and if they don’t we’ll have to move some things around. But, we’re ready to go to work,” he said. “Well, as soon as we figure out who our next governor’s going to be.”
Reach Rashah McChesney at rashah.mcchesney@peninsulaclarion.com
