Brena, Democrats to the ‘text rescue’ for Dunbar, as truckers take to roads for Bronson

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Robin Brena, the architect and funder behind the failed oil-tax hike in 2020 known as Ballot Measure 1, poured $4,000 into the Alaska Democratic Party in the final days of the Anchorage mayoral runoff.

The funds will be used to “get out the vote” in in the election that will decide if Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat, or Dave Bronson, a Republican, will become mayor of Anchorage.

Brena, a business partner and transition team oil-tax adviser to former Gov. Bill Walker, put over $400,000 into Ballot Measure One, in addition to paying signature gatherers to get people to sign the ballot initiative. It failed with voters 58-42 in November.

A regular Democrat supporter, Brena had already given the maximum allowed by law to the Dunbar campaign in early January. Must Read Alaska has learned the $4,000 to the Alaska Democrats will be used for text messages to Democrats in Anchorage who haven’t yet voted.

The Anchorage Municipality has also announced free bus service on People Mover on Election Day, ostensibly to help the Democrat vote.

The Alaska Republican Party appears to be working on its own get-out-the-vote strategy, and has reported $21,535 in its seven-day report to be used for the municipal election. This, too, appears to be focused on getting voters to find their ballots in their stack of mail and to vote them. The Republican Party typically stays out of local races as a policy but will work on getting out the vote in some races.

A private group, Conservatives for Bronson, has dump trucks adorned with Bronson signs focused on the Eagle River area, where conservatives have been reported to be hanging onto their ballots. A number of conservatives express continued mistrust of the municipality’s vote-by-mail security and the Bronson campaign has put a focus on that area, including a massive rally on Thursday.

Read: Over 500 turn out for rally in Eagle River

The amount logged in as a contribution to the Conservatives for Bronson account is over $91,000, most of it coming from McKenna Bros. as a non-monetary contribution of the trucks and their drivers.

Secure drop boxes for ballots are located at:

For those needing to vote in person for any reason, you can vote at If you need assistance voting, or if you need to replace a lost or damaged ballot, or if you didn’t receive a ballot, please protect our community in the public health crisis and call 243-VOTE (8683).

If the April 6 election is any indication, lines could be long at the three in-person voting centers on Tuesday.

Locations:

City Hall
632 West 6th Avenue, Room #155

Weekdays, May 5 – 10, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 8, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 9, noon – 5 p.m.Election Day, May 11, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Eagle River Town Center 
12001 Business Boulevard, Community Room #170
(same building as the library)

Weekdays, May 5 – 10, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 8, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 9, noon – 5 p.m.
Election Day, May 11, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. 
Only Chugiak-Eagle River ballots will be available at this location. 

Loussac Library3600 Denali Street, First Floor, Assembly Chambers
Weekdays, May 5 – 10, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 8, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Sunday, May 9, noon – 5 p.m.
Election Day, May 11, 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.

At Anchorage Vote Centers services: Voters can vote in person, return a mailed ballot, replace a lost or damaged ballot, receive a ballot package if they didn’t receive one in the mail, receive voting assistance, or get help with other voter questions. Voters who are voting in-person or requesting a replacement ballot will be required to show identification. 

For voters who wish to vote at home and didn’t received a mailed ballot, please call the Voter Hotline at (907) 243-VOTE (8683) for a replacement ballot.  Replacement ballot requests must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4, 2021, to allow sufficient time for mailing. 

Voted ballots being returned by U.S. Postal Service mail must be postmarked no later than Election Day, May 11, 2021, and received by noon May 21, 2021. If mailing during the last 48 hours of the election, ask a postal official to hand-cancel/ hand-stamp the envelope with a postmark.

17 COMMENTS

  1. They are right we do not trust the Municipality Election System. I will drop of my votes at the election center drop box because the Eagle River Drop box may not get emptied before the election is certified to supress the Conservative Vote.

  2. With the fact that teacher’s unions are in the tank for Democrats, I wouldn’t consider school grounds as secure locations for ballot drop boxes. Just saying….

  3. 3 in person voting centers for a city the size of Anchorage? Sounds like voter suppression to me.

  4. Unlike the movie stars(who threatened to leave the USA if Bush or Trump won), I ,after living in Anchorage for almost 50 years, WILL leave Anchorage if Dunbar is elected by a democrat run election…….

  5. AK GOP using GOTV texts too. I recieved one today, thinking it was probably from Dunbar, pleasantly surprised it was from AK GOP. Glad to see them, Gov. Dunleavy, Sen. Sullivan get involved in the race.
    I feel good but, don’t trust the Democrats one iota. Too many AK races have strange things happen.

  6. I came from Downtown Anchorage yesterday afternoon after decided to walk Fourth avenue. Still the same troubled residents with various problems of drug and alcohol addictions, mental illness and academic mediocrity, and people don’t know where they are going.

    Downtown is a real embarrassment. To have your child go through it, you must whisper, ‘this is terrible what we are seeing, and this not healthy to see for us.” If this city, if this state, thinks continuing electing democrats will decreases these problem in front of us … Electing more democrats will only increase this horrible downtown sight with it just spreading out for blocks and blocks and blocks. Its so bad that Democrats don’t even take their own children downtown unless there is a huge downtown square garden event then quickly departing their children home before their children might possibly see what drugs and alcohol addictions with incomplete education and untreated mental illness does to a human being.

  7. Don’t believe the Dunbar campaign information. Walk or drive around Anchorage and witness with your own eyes what has been done to our beautiful city. Dig out your ballots and exercise your right to VOTE for CHANGE. If you don’t vote they win by default. VOTE for change, VOTE for BRONSON!

  8. Hopefully Anchorage voters will use the MOA’s free bus service to vote in person, and help to mitigate the usual Democrat mail in vote fraud…..

  9. As long as Brena keeps disgraced former governor Bill Walker in a law partnership arrangement with Brena’s firm, there isn’t much chance of his success influencing big elections. The electorate equates the Walker Administration with sheer incompetence, grand theft, pedophilia, and personal vengeance…..not to mention arrogance and contempt for the people. Bronson should have a field day at the polls.

  10. From where I sit it looks like Robin Brena is on a mission to crap on as many Alaskans as possible.

  11. If “text are being sent to democrats that haven’t voted”……….. how do they know who voted?
    Envelopes AND ballots shouldn’t be touched until that point in time which we use to call “voting day”

    Collected and stored securely AWAY from the counters grasp if that’s even possible today.

  12. People worry about ballots being tampered with during the mail-in process. The real problem is with the vote-counting machines which are inexplicably connected to the internet (ostensibly for troubleshooting/updating). The fact is, anything connected to the internet can be hacked. This is what appears to have happened during the night of counting for the 2020 presidential election.

    Never trust any level of your government. Incompetence can be just as damaging as malevolence. The bureaucrats can be very careful with ballots only to unwittingly allow the outcome to be jimmied by hackers.

  13. I Agree with Wayne.

    Witness: Matt DePerno and his ongoing lawsuit in Antrim, Mi.
    It is the direct example of what happens in the machine count, elections on all levels.
    (anyone question Anchorage alcohol tax and Prop. 2 passing?)

    It IS NOT ‘the big lie’ – it is the nefarious assault on our country, our towns, our elections. Since the assault was successful, it is ongoing, not finished.

    Be prepared – those who say this election is ‘razor thin’.
    Mark my words.
    We will need to prepare for hand counts and verifications of signatures.
    Votes CAN be changed at the machine count.

  14. I drive dump trucks with the boys during the summer and teach at UAA in the fall and spring semester. I have a PhD. and a Master’s. Without argument, the drivers I work with are better grounded with common sense than anyone I know in the College of Liberal Arts.

Comments are closed.