Lance David Pruitt (born August 18, 1981) was a Republican 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 ...

from the 27th district which covers East Anchorage. He was elected in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and left office in 2021 following his election loss in 2020.

Early life and career

Born and raised in

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

, Pruitt graduated from Heritage High School in 1999, thereafter spending the next four years at the

University of Alaska Anchorage The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) is a public university in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. UAA also administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska: Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna C ...

gaining a BA in

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. Afterwards Pruitt began work in logistical management, including becoming Service Manager at

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, and alongside his work as a state representative Pruitt is now also General Manager of

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co., commonly known as Sears ( ), is an American chain of department stores and online retailer founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosen ...

Logistics and the owner of small business ''Good 4 You Vending''. Furthering his study, he attended

Kaplan University Kaplan University (KU) was a private online for-profit university owned by Kaplan, Inc., a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. It was predominantly a distance learning institution, maintaining 14 ground locations across the United States. ...

from 2007 to 2009 and graduated with an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in administration. He has also been a NANA slope worker and a member of the

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Chamber of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...

Politics

Pruitt ran for the

state house State House or statehouse may refer to: Buildings *Aso Villa or State House, the official residence of the President of Nigeria *Government House, Dominica or The State House, the official residence of the President of Dominica * State House, Bar ...

's 21st district being vacated by

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Harry Crawford. Running unopposed, Pruitt gained the Republican nomination in August 2010. In the November election, he defeated Democratic nominee Barbara Norton 54% to 43%. (The

Libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

nominee and write-ins received the remainder of the vote.) After being elected, Pruitt became co-chair of the house's Energy Special Committee; he also served as vice-chair of the education and transportation committees and as a member of the Legislative Outdoor Heritage Caucus. In the 2011 mid-term Alaska Business Report Card—a grading system run by several Alaska business coalitions judging state officials on how favorable they are to the business community—Pruitt received an A. In his first term, Pruitt was the youngest member of the House. He was also the first person under age 30 to serve in the Alaska Legislature since

Mary Kapsner Mary Sattler Peltola (born August 31, 1973) is an American politician and former tribal judge who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from from 2022 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), ...

reached her 30th birthday while in office in 2003. In 2014 he was named an

Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...

Rodel Fellow. As House Minority Leader, Pruitt spearheaded the removal of David Eastman from his committee positions due to Republican infighting. Pruitt ran for reelection in 2020 and lost to Democratic challenger Liz Snyder by 13 votes. The

Alaska Supreme Court The Alaska Supreme Court is the state supreme court for the U.S. state of Alaska. Its decisions are binding on all other Alaska state courts, and the only court its decisions may be appealed to is the Supreme Court of the United States. The Ala ...

struck down his challenges to the result. In 2021, the Alaska Public Offices Commission levied a $20,000 fine against Pruitt for campaign finance violations committed from 2016 to 2020.

Personal life

Pruitt is married to Mary Ann and has two children and currently resides in East Anchorage. He is a 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 ...

, which also endorsed his run for the house. Alongside his activities Pruitt has also been a soccer coach, and helped for both the Alaska Airmen's Association and the Resource Development Council.

References

External links

Lance Pruitt
at ''100 Years of Alaska's Legislature'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pruitt, Lance 1981 births Businesspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Living people Republican Party members of the Alaska House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Alaska Legislature Politicians from Anchorage, Alaska University of Alaska Anchorage alumni Kaplan University alumni