Before his election to the Alaska Senate, Dunleavy served on the board of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, including two years as its president.

[14] Retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel Mike Shower was chosen as his successor by Governor Bill Walker and confirmed by the Alaska Senate caucus after numerous replacement candidates were rejected.

[19] A massive 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck Southcentral Alaska on November 30, three days before Dunleavy took office, causing significant damage throughout the region.

[20] Within hours, he and his team assessed the situation at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) alongside the outgoing administration of Governor Bill Walker.

[41] On November 4, 2019, the Division of Elections declined to certify the recall petition after the Alaska attorney general Kevin Clarkson, a Dunleavy appointee, issued a legal opinion.

[42] Clarkson acknowledged that the petitioners had submitted enough signatures and paid the necessary fees, but asserted that "the four allegations against the governor 'fail to meet any of the listed grounds for recall—neglect of duty, incompetence, or lack of fitness'".

[43] In January 2020, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth rejected the division's decision not to certify the recall petition.

The team aims to facilitate business operations in Alaska and encourage companies to invest in industries like oil and gas, mining, tourism, commercial fishing, and aerospace.

In 2023, Dunleavy issued Administrative Order 343 to address workforce shortages by removing four-year degree requirements for most state jobs.

Ambassador Rahm Emanuel convened the meeting to discuss the prospect of exporting liquefied natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to Japan.

[49] In 2024, an independent report by Wood Mackenzie estimated that the pipeline project could stimulate industrial demand, reduce emissions, and provide long-term economic benefits to Alaska.

In 2020, Dunleavy announced a bipartisan initiative called the Alaska Reads Act,[50] which "focused on enhancing interventions for struggling readers and offering targeted school-improvement in the state's lowest performing schools".

"[54][55] On March 11, 2020, Dunleavy's office declared a state of emergency to ensure all entities had the necessary response resources a day before the first case arrived via a foreign national in Anchorage.

[57] That April, Dunleavy activated the State Emergency Operations Center under Alaska's Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

[59] A month later, Dunleavy announced a new extension of the two-week quarantine measure that required visitors to Alaska to present a negative test for the virus if they were not willing to self-quarantine for two weeks.

"[66] As a candidate[67] and governor, Dunleavy advocated for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD), consistently pushing for full statutory payments to Alaskans.

[72] By 2022, with oil revenues rising to unexpected levels, a $3,700 PFD was proposed to give immediate economic relief to Alaskans facing high inflation and fuel costs.

In February 2019, he abolished Alaska's climate change task force, a team instated by Bill Walker, calling it unnecessary.

[74] In September 2019, during a meeting at the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds with Mark Gordon, Dunleavy said that warming the Arctic could be good for Alaska, believing that it could create further business opportunities.

[76] In September 2020, Dunleavy expressed support for renewable energy ideas: "I know there's a view on the part of some that a Republican governor that is supportive of Alaska's resource extraction industries, including those around fossil fuels, would not want anything to do with renewables" and "It makes total sense to explore pumped hydro, using wind as a main source of energy and the reservoir as the batteries.

You would think President Biden would want to improve access to American sources of copper and other strategic minerals that are needed in our combined efforts to increase renewables.

This pendulum swing away from the last federal administration's approval disregards extensive environmental studies and widespread social engagement while creating instability in long-term investment.

"[78] Dunleavy has encouraged the United States Environmental Protection Agency to approve the permit for Pebble Mine, which other Alaska politicians oppose because it would threaten the fishery of Bristol Bay.

[80] On the conference's first day, Dunleavy signed into law a nuclear microreactor bill[81] intended to create low-cost, reliable power for communities, remote villages, and resource development projects, and reduce reliance on volatile energy sources.

The initiative was inspired by the Supreme Court decision Sturgeon v. Frost, which affirmed Alaska's authority over its navigable waters within federal conservation units.

[93] In January 2019, Dunleavy announced that he would repeal and replace SB91[94] and declare "war on criminals" by proposing four bills that would increase criminal penalties for sexual offenses; reverse a range of reductions to sentences; add a new category of crime called terroristic threatening; increase bail and give judges more discretion in how people charged with crimes are released before trials; and reduce the use of parole.

It includes stricter penalties for drug-related deaths, updates the sex offender registry, and introduces new crimes, such as assaulting someone in a child's presence.

Dunleavy said, "We've put in place internal steps to prevent this kind of backlog from ever happening again and added resources to the State crime lab to ensure every kit is tested within 90 days or sooner.

[104] In 2022, Dunleavy applauded a Supreme Court decision that struck down New York's firearm licensing policy as unconstitutional, calling it a significant win for the Second Amendment and law-abiding Americans.

[106] In May 2022, Dunleavy expressed opposition to the termination of Title 42 by the Center for Disease Control: "The Termination Order is detrimental to the states tasked with enforcing immigration standards, and it is not logically appropriate" and "This policy runs contrary to the Biden Administration's other declarations because it is expressly premised on the decrease of COVID-19, but the Administration has ignored these facts by enforcing mandatory vaccination and mask mandates.