Eric Chancy Croft (born November 6, 1964) is an American attorney and politician who represented Anchorage's West district on the Anchorage Assembly from 2016 to 2019. From 1997 to 2006, Croft served as a member of the

Alaska House of Representatives The Alaska House of Representatives is the lower house in the Alaska State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. The House is composed of 40 members, each of whom represents a district of approximately 17,756 people pe ...

for District 15, representing

Spenard, Anchorage Spenard is a neighborhood in the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska, United States and was historically a separate city from Anchorage. The road that bears its name, Spenard Road, begins at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport at its sou ...

. He was also a candidate in the

2006 Alaska gubernatorial election The 2006 Alaska gubernatorial general election took place on November 7, 2006. The former mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin, defeated incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary, and then went on to defeat former governor Tony ...

. He received 23.1% of the vote, losing to 68.6% achieved by former governor Tony Knowles. Croft served as Anchorage's

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

president from 2013 to 2016. In April 2016, he was elected to the

Anchorage Assembly The Anchorage Assembly is the governing body of Anchorage, Alaska. The Assembly has twelve members elected to three-year terms from six districts. It is responsible for creating and approving the city's annual budget, appropriating municipal fund ...

, replacing Ernie Hall, who decided not to run for reelection. In December 2019, he filed papers to run in the 2021 Anchorage mayoral election, before dropping out in November 2020. On February 10, 2025, it was announced Croft had been elected Chair of the

Alaska Democratic Party The Alaska Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in Alaska, headquartered in Anchorage. It is one of two major parties in Alaska, alongside the Alaska Republican Party. The Democratic Party holds the Alaska Senate in a coal ...

Early life and education

Eric Chancy Croft was born in

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...

on November 6, 1964. His parents, Toni (née Williamson) and Chancy Croft, moved to Alaska in 1962, having previously resided within

West Texas West Texas is a loosely defined region in the U.S. state of Texas, generally encompassing the desert climate, arid and semiarid climate, semiarid lands west of a line drawn between the cities of Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Texa ...

. Croft's father served in the

Alaska Legislature The Alaska State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is a bicameral institution consisting of the 40-member Alaska House of Representatives (lower house) and the 20-member Alaska Senate (upper house). There a ...

and was the Democratic candidate in the

1978 Alaska gubernatorial election The 1978 Alaska gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1978, to elect the governor of Alaska. Republican incumbent Jay Hammond defeated four opponents: former Governor of Alaska and write-in candidate Wally Hickel, Alaska Senator ...

. His maternal grandfather, John Conwell Williamson (19122001), was a wildcatter in West Texas, who contributed to uncovering oil in both Texas and

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

.Midland, Texas, Reporter-Telegram, August 2, 2001, p. 1. Croft grew up in the South Addition neighborhood adjacent to

downtown Anchorage Downtown Anchorage is a neighborhood in the U.S. city of Anchorage, Alaska. Considered the central business district of Anchorage, Downtown has many office buildings, cultural points of interest, shopping areas, as well as dining and nightlife ...

, graduating from

West Anchorage High School West Anchorage High School (formerly Anchorage High School) is a public high school in Anchorage, Alaska. The school is part of the Anchorage School District (ASD). Opened in 1953, West is the oldest of ASD's eight major high schools. Serving th ...

in 1982. He went on to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, earning an undergraduate degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. He then received a J.D. degree from

University of California, Hastings College of the Law The University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (abbreviated as UC Law SF or UC Law) is a public law school in San Francisco, California, United States. It was known as the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (a ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Career

Eric Croft was first elected to the Alaska House in 1996, four years after graduating law school, and was reelected four times, facing generally nominal opposition in his Democratic Anchorage district. He is a lifetime member of the

National Rifle Association of America The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...

and received both the 2003 NRA Defender of Freedom and Gun Rights Legislator of the Year awards. He is a strong supporter in Alaska's

initiative Popular initiative A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. In direct initiative, the proposition is put direct ...

process as well as a strong proponent of the prospective Alaska

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

pipeline. A strong supporter of gender parity, he is "pro-choice," supporting a woman's right to privacy regarding her procreative rights but subject to the right to life of a viable fetus. He announced his candidacy for governor in 2006 focusing on natural resource issues and that Alaskans get their "fair share" of the state's resource wealth. He joined with future governor

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...

to lodge an ethics complaint against Attorney General Gregg Renkes, who later resigned from his office. In December 2019, Croft filed a letter of intent with the state to run in the 2021 Anchorage mayoral election. He dropped out in November of 2020, citing the presence of multiple ideologically similar candidates to himself. In 2025, Croft succeeded Mike Wenstrup as chair of the Alaska Democratic Party.

Electoral history

* 2006 race for governor, primary ** Tony Knowles (D), 68.6% ** Eric Croft (D), 23.1%

Personal life

Croft works as an attorney in Alaska. He and his wife, Joanna Burke Croft, own Alaska Professional Testing, Inc. Joanna Croft, an architect by training, is also an alumnus of

References

External links

Gubernatorial campaign site

AKDemocrats.org page

Eric Croft
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Croft, Eric 1964 births 21st-century members of the Alaska Legislature Alaska Democrats Alaska lawyers Anchorage Assembly members Businesspeople from Alaska Democratic Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives Living people School board members in Alaska Stanford University alumni University of California College of the Law, San Francisco alumni