David Eastman
Republican | Alaska
Candidate Profile
Verified Conservative
BIOGRAPHY
Name
David Eastman
Party
Republican
Election Year
2024
Election
General
Race
State Rep., Dist. 27
Incumbent
Yes
Links
EDUCATION
United States Military Academy, West Point, BS, Law and Legal Studies, 2003
Biola University, La Mirada, MA, Apologetics, 2008
Acton School of Business, Austin, MBA, Entrepreneurship, 2019
Summit Oxford Study Centre, Oxford, Summit Oxford Fellow, 2009
John Jay Institute, Langhorne, John Jay Fellow, 2010
WORK & MILITARY
United States Military Academy (West Point), CDT Captain, 4
United States Army, Military Police Corps, Captain, 6
United States Army Reserve, Captain, 2
Alaska Emergency Management Agency, VAL, 2
Alaska Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT), (Intermittent Government Employee), GS-12, 10
Certified Firefighter/EMT, Firefighter II, 9
AFFILIATIONS
Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy, Lincoln Fellow;, Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
Acton University, Various Churches, Sunday School Teacher
Various Churches, AWANA Leader, National Eagle Scout Association
Member, Club For Growth Foundation, Club For Growth Fellow
VFW, Life Member, Alaska Peace Officers Association
Member, Foundation for Government Accountability, Friend of Government Accountability
Gun Owners of America, LIfe Member
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
State Representative, Alaska House of Representatives, 8
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
Candidate did not provide
SCORECARDS
CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS
LIBERAL ORGANIZATIONS
ENDORSEMENTS
CONSERVATIVE (1)
National Rifle Association (NRA) PVF
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (5)
Alaska Right to Life,
Save the PFD,
National Association for Gun Rights,
Dr. Frank (Dr. Douglas Frank),
Mike Lindell
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (8)
Christopher Kurka (2022)
Nathan Dahm (2022)
Senate Conservatives Fund (2022)
Mathew Gurtler (2020)
Roy Moore (2020)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (22)
Paul Bauer (2024)
Anthony Frank Sabatini (2022)
Bruce Walden (2022)
Doyle Holmes (2022)
Frank Tomaszewski (2022)
OTHER INFORMATION
Key votes from VoteSmart
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Under what circumstances should an elective abortion be allowed?
The life of a child must always be protected. A child's life does not become more valuable under some circumstances and less valuable under others.
Chemical abortion drugs should meet essential safety standards (such as in-person consultation with a medical doctor) and require reporting to gather evidence on reactions and outcomes.
Strongly Agree
Informed consent should be required for both mother and child, as the life of the child is intentionally put at risk by chemical abortion drugs.
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Strongly Agree
Sending taxpayer funds to the abortion industry serves no legitimate public purpose.
I support 'aid in dying' laws which legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Strongly Disagree
As a society, either we are trying to reduce suicide or we are trying to make it easier to accomplish. A healthy society would be working to reduce suicide.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Under what circumstances can government close churches?
Government only has the authority granted to it by the Constitution. It has no authority to close churches, and it exceeds its constitutional authority when it attempts to do so.
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Strongly Disagree
A free society is one in which the conscience rights of individuals are protected.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The Chinese Communist Party poses serious military, cyber security, intellectual property, and global economic threats to the United States.
Strongly Agree
Chinese leaders have been saying this very thing for many years, and have openly declared a "People's War" against the United States. It is time that we believed them.
Is the United States' relationship with Israel important, and if so why?
The US played an important role in the creation of modern day Israel, a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. An American led the military forces of Israel during its first war. Our nations have been allies since that time. Israel and the US have always had a special relationship compared with all other countries in the Middle East. The day that antisemitism gains widespread acceptance in the US will mark a turning point for our country, away from judeo-christian ethics and toward paganism.
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D) Taxpayer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be defunded.
The U.S. has substantially higher spending, worse health outcomes, and worse access to care than other wealthy countries. Consequences should be felt by the individuals making the decisions. “Politicians are already one of the main reasons why medical insurance is so expensive…Nothing is easier for politicians than to mandate things that insurance companies must cover, without the slightest regard for how such additional coverage will raise the cost of insurance.” - Economist Thomas Sowell
Under what circumstances (if any) should a government, school, or employer be allowed to require vaccinations?
Under no circumstances should someone be threatened with the loss of their job or other penalty for declining a medical intervention such as a vaccination. Employment or school does not render a person an unwitting subject of medical experimentation.
ECONOMY
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
"The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
What is your position on the minimum wage?
Government-imposed minimum wage laws remove the bottom rung of the employment ladder, making initial employment out of reach for the very people who most need it. Without a job, how will they acquire and develop the skills needed to climb the ladder?
Should environmental and social issues, like ESG (environmental, social, and governance) ratings, be used as criteria in deciding where to invest public monies?
No
Alaskans should abide by the criteria laid out in the Alaska Constitution when it comes to the use of public resources of all kinds.
IMMIGRATION
The U.S. should do more to physically secure the southern border.
Strongly Agree
A nation unwilling to defend its borders will not be called a nation for long.
EDUCATION
The state should fund education by allowing dollars to follow the child through programs which protect parents' freedom to choose their child's school – public, private, or homeschool.
Strongly Agree
A failure to allow competition among the various forms that education takes will ensure that parents are always left with inferior choices. Public, charter, virtual, homeschool, and private schools should be allowed to compete on an even footing for the patronage of parents and their children. Program must protect individual rights, including the right to privacy. Tax credits can be a useful tool to ensure that money remains where it is needed most.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
I support redirecting funds from police departments to community programs.
Strongly Disagree
As a family, we support law and order. From my daughter's perspective, her dad served in law enforcement. Her grandfather was also a career police officer, as was her great-grandfather as well. Law enforcement should be impartial in its enforcement of our laws. Those who violate the laws should be held accountable, whether they work in law enforcement or not. There is no place for political prosecutions in America.
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
Government can never be permitted to acquire or maintain a monopoly on firearms, or tyranny in government will prevail unchecked by the people, as the 2nd Amendment warned us.
Should teachers be allowed to carry guns at school?
Yes
Yes. Self defense is a natural right that should always be respected. If individuals are ever denied the ability to protect themselves and others, then those who implement such policies must take on the responsibility for protecting those individuals, and must bear full legal liability in the event that someone is harmed due to such policies.
ABOUT YOU
Have you ever been penalized for sexual misconduct in either civil or criminal court? If so, please explain.
No.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony? If so, please explain.
No.
What do you think is the general purpose of government?
To secure the natural rights of the people. To protect the innocent.
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Very Conservative
I value liberty under the rule of law. As a conservative, I realize that utopia is not attainable in this life, and that policy decisions inevitably involve tradeoffs between imperfect options and finite resources. I love beauty. I have enjoyed 1,000 miles of backpacking. I believe we have a responsibility to our fellow citizens to leave our forests and parks better than we found them. I inherited a healthy distrust of government from my great-grandmother who worked for the IRS in the 1920's.
VALUES
Children are the most vulnerable members of society and must be protected from abuse, including gender ideology, grooming, and bodily mutilation.
Strongly Agree
The protection of innocence is the duty of every member of a society. We protect children from many legal consequences due to their impressionable age. Life-altering elective medical decisions should certainly be among them.
Parents should have the right to make decisions for their minor children.
Strongly Agree
The rights of parents to protect their children predate the Constitution and should be enshrined in law. Even so, parental rights do not include the ability to sell children into sex trafficking, force them into child marriage, or end their lives through honor killings. Life-long decisions, like marriage, require the consent of the two individuals being married. Long-term contracts require the consent of the parties to the contract. Decisions concerning a child's education belong to the parents.
Taxpayer funds should be used to provide gender transition services.
Strongly Disagree
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition.
Strongly Agree
A child should never deliberately be denied having a mother and a father. Children who are denied one or both of their parents suffer loss. While many children do grow up without their parents, we should never intentionally deprive a child of their parents under the idea that a mother is just as good as a father, or a father is just as good as a mother. Three loving mothers cannot make up for the absence of a father in a child's life.
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am a follower of Christ and was baptized when I was 12 years old. My parents sought to pass on their faith in Christ to me by homeschooling my siblings and I from an early age. I grew up attending church with my family at the headquarters of Wycliffe Bible Translators, so it was very common to see missionary families coming and going from our church during my growing up years. I believe that government has an obligation to protect individual rights, especially conscience rights, and the free exercise of religion. It is my prayer that Americans across this country will humble themselves before the Lord and seek His forgiveness and that He would heal our land.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
In a society in which you must show photo identification in order to exercise your right to travel and drive a car, how much more important is the exercise of your right to vote, and the need to protect that right from abuse?
States should join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact which makes the Electoral College irrelevant.
Strongly Disagree
Small population states like Alaska have a voice in the selection of our president due to the Electoral College. Abolishing or sidelining the Electoral College helps large population states like New York, California and Texas, and it does so at the expense of small population states like Alaska and Vermont.
EQUALITY
Is racism a threat to domestic security in the United States? Why or why not?
No. Today, racism hides beneath the thin veneer of so-called "Anti-racism".
I agree with Critical Race Theory (CRT) which asserts that the institutions in the United States are fundamentally racist.
Strongly Disagree
Biological males should not be allowed to participate in women's sports or occupy biological women's spaces whether it be bathrooms, locker rooms, sorority houses, women's shelters, or prison.
Strongly Agree
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Which comes closest to your view? (Select all that apply) A) Stricter environmental laws and regulations cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. B) Stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost. C) Stricter environmental laws undermine U.S. energy independence and deter development of reliable electricity sources. D) Climate change is real and requires urgent policy action.
C.
What do you believe is the most reliable energy source that will supply the growing demand for electricity?
Nuclear energy.
