North Slope Borough, Alaska

The North Slope Borough is the northernmost borough in the US state of Alaska and, thus, the northernmost county or equivalent of the United States as a whole. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,031. The borough seat and largest city, comprising nearly half of the borough’s population, is Utqiaġvik (known as Barrow from 1901 to 2016), the northernmost settlement in the United States.

The borough was established in 1972 by an election of the majority Indigenous people in the region, following Congressional passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Most are Inupiat. The borough was named for the Alaska North Slope basin. In 1974, it adopted a Home Rule Charter, enabling it to exercise any legitimate governmental power. The borough has first-class status and exercises the powers of planning, zoning, taxation, and schools.

In 2020, the airline Ravn Alaska went into bankruptcy and ended operations. The government of North Slope Borough attempted to take control of the airline's assets to keep flights and shipments coming to the community, but the Alaska Attorney General stated that the borough did not have that authority.

The borough is governed by an eleven-member assembly, elected to staggered three-year terms, which meets monthly. Representation on the assembly is apportioned among the various communities; Utqiaġvik is allotted six seats, Nuiqsut, Point Hope, and Wainwright one seat apiece, while the remaining two seats combine two communities; Anaktuvuk Pass with Kaktovik and Atqasuk with Point Lay. The borough's executive and administrative powers are vested in a mayor, who is limited to two consecutive three-year terms.

North Slope Borough has generally hosted competitive elections, it has only backed a Democrat for president three times since 1980.

Former mayor Eugene Brower, Charlotte Brower's husband, was convicted of tax evasion involving contractor kickbacks in the 1980s.

Former mayor George Ahmaogak had billed the Borough for a family vacation in Hawaii. His wife, Maggie, was later convicted of embezzlement by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission in 2015.

Edward Itta succeeded George Ahmaogak and served two terms, 2005–2011. In 2011, Charlotte Brower defeated Ahmaogak in a runoff election after his Hawaii vacation was revealed. She was recalled in April 2016, after it was reported the year before that her office had made numerous donations to individuals (including family members), sports clubs, and other groups that amounted to more than $800,000 since 2011.