AUSTIN QUINN-DAVIDSON HAS WON
The Anchorage seat vacated by progressive Tim Steele has been won by hard-left Austin Quinn-Davidson, who kept a commanding lead during the first ballots counted on Tuesday night.
Steele resigned in June to focus on his health. Several filed for his seat but the two who were on the conservative side of the balance sheet were Nikki Rose and Sam Moore.
Quinn-Davidson enjoyed insurmountable financial backing from environmental groups and unions, and was able to run a robust campaign with the help of donors like Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and dozens of union and environmental group contributions.
The other two main candidates had a fraction of the financial capacity to get their messages out.
Quinn-Davidson had nearly 50 percent of the vote late last night, with Nikki rose at 31 percent and Moore at less than 10 percent. Minor candidates filled out the rest.
Most of the 7,145 votes that were cast were counted, a 20 percent turnout in the city’s second mail-in-only election. Another 850 ballots will be counted on Wednesday and the rest will dribble in from the U.S. Mail in coming days.
Quinn-Davidson is an environmental lawyer with Great Land Trust, and her wife is one of the cofounders of Stand for Salmon, the ballot initiative that will be decided in November.
Her victory is a big win for the liberal-leaning assembly and mayor in Alaska’s biggest city.
The seat held by Steele, and soon by Quinn-Davidson, will be up for election again in 2020.
