By DAN FAGAN
The latest guy to run for mayor in Anchorage is a conservative’s conservative. Dave Bronson is a former U.S. Air Force pilot and recently retired commercial airline captain. He’s a small government, staunchly pro-life, family values advocate. He’s a devout man of faith and a long-time member of the Anchorage Baptist Temple. Bronson is the type of candidate who the legacy media despises.
How conservative is Bronson? Bronson is the complete opposite, politically, from the current leftist mayor, Ethan Berkowitz.
Think Ted Cruz conservative.
Several Republicans have tried to convince me that Bronson is too conservative to run for mayor of a city that has turned decidedly blue in recent elections. The current assembly Bronson would have to deal with, if elected in early 2021, is dominated by hard-core leftists.
Think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders type radicals.
Bronson’s detractors say while he would motivate the conservative base to show up and vote and possibly end up in a runoff with a leftist opponent, he’d stand little chance of beating such a candidate heads up.
“I believe we are still a center-right city,” claims Bronson. “I think that there’s a sleeping giant out there. We call it the silent majority. I think they are going to turn out to vote in November and I think they will turn out to vote, I hope, that first Tuesday in April.”
There’s no denying conservatives running for mayor in Anchorage have had a tough go of it lately. In 2018, Berkowitz defeated conservative challenger Rebecca Logan soundly with 55.4% of the vote allowing him to avoid a runoff.
Berkowitz easily won his first term in 2015 when he trounced Bronson-like conservative Amy Demboski. In a runoff, Berkowitz captured a convincing 60.7% of the vote.
But just three years prior to Berkowitz first winning, the city had as mayor one of the most conservative politicians in state history, Dan Sullivan. Sullivan soundly beat two leftist opponents, Paul Honeman, in 2012, and Eric Croft in 2009.
In the past 11-and-a-half-years, Anchorage has gone from a consistent, solid, reliable conservative as mayor to one of the most left-leaning politicians to ever hold office in the state.
And Berkowitz has been able to push through whatever he wants regardless of how crazy, radical, costly, or extreme. The current mayor has enjoyed the pleasure of ruling with an iron fist thanks to a left-leaning dominated Assembly that’s been nothing more than a rubber stamp for him.
Berkowitz is not Anchorage’s first Democrat mayor. Mark Begich and Tony Knowles also held the job. But Begich and Knowles are not wacky crazy socialist revolutionaries like Berkowitz. In five and a half short years under Berkowitz, the city has become barely recognizable. That same drastic decay, increased lawlessness, and deterioration didn’t happen under Knowles or Begich.
Anchorage voters have gone and elected themselves their very own Bill De Blasio. Which one of the two mayors has been a bigger failure? Hard to say.
Berkowitz’s dismal record as mayor is the main reason my Republican friends trying to convince me Bronson can’t win because he’s too conservative are wrong.
We saw what happened Tuesday when voters rejected many Republican-in-name-only incumbent legislators. Some argue this was retaliation since these legislators refused to cut the budget and instead raided the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve Account, causing shrinkage of the dividend check. Maybe.
But there’s another dynamic at play. Conservatives are now awake. Berkowitz and this radical Assembly taught us how quickly Anchorage can become as lawless and dysfunctional as Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. All it takes is a couple of terms.
This will play well for Bronson. But he must be clear, direct, bold, and merciless in exposing the damage leftist leaders have done to Anchorage in such a short period. If a conservative candidate is to retake City Hall, he or she will have to follow the lead of President Donald Trump. This is no time for being delicate or niceties.
Based on how Bronson described the current Assembly on my show Wednesday, that won’t be a problem.
“These people are a bunch of crazies. There’s no other way to put it,” said Bronson. “This city has gone stark raving mad.”
Another big advantage for Bronson is the endorsement he received from conservative superhero and Eagle River Assemblymember Jamie Allard. Allard got emotional and choked up when she introduced Bronson as he announced in front of Assembly chambers on Tuesday his candidacy.
Bronson is an unapologetic conservative and a bold one at that. If he does make it into a runoff with a leftist candidate, the Anchorage Daily News won’t give him a fair shake. In the newspaper’s view, he’s the worst of all types of candidates: Pro-life and pro-free market.
The legacy media played a huge role in helping Berkowitz defeat his two conservative challengers in the past two mayoral campaigns. But the media landscape has changed since then. The ADN resembles a restaurant takeout menu more than a newspaper and their subscribers are likely made up of like-minded leftists. The paper’s long tradition and power to swing elections for liberals is not what it used to be.
Berkowitz messed up Anchorage so badly, he may have singlehandedly turned the city from blue, back to red. Berkowitz has set the table nicely for a genuine conservative like Bronson to come in and save the day.
Dan Fagan hosts a radio show weekday mornings between 5:30 and 8 am on Newsradio 650 KENI.
I am so excited that #BronsonForMayor is stepping up to lead our citizens to taking back our city!
Dave Bronson for Mayor is PRO Anchorage, family, education, military, SMALL BUSINESSES… and much more!
Thank you for this article Dan, Dave Bronson is exactly what we need right now for Anchorage! He is the right choice to take us in a new direction, the right direction!
#NronsonForMayor
What an article!… Dave Bronson is the guy who can get the job done.
First order of Business is to get rid of the mail in voting. Mail in voting is a disaster and we should go back ro traditional voting booth in person voting. As far as the Media both print and televised Conservatives need to step up direct our attention to running those in charge out of business and on air personalities out of Alaska. Time to take back Anchorage.
I totally agree.
Good. More than likely he doesn’t have a chance. Anchorage put in the short one because they wanted him. They got what they wanted. The only thing that needs to change is the kind of people that are in Anchorage. The liberal hacks and brainwashed that has moved up from Seattle and Portland, the fat cats on the hillside representing the University of Alaska system, those are the ones that are responsible. All they did was get what they paid for.
It’s not just Ethan and his Assembly, but also the majority on the School Board. Somewhere along the line, we’re gonna have to deal with the public employee unions who put them into office – Police and Fire and Teachers unions here in ANC. Now that the Assembly is going after the cops, perhaps they will listen. Unlikely, but a bit more possible than a month ago.
Never ever forget who put these clowns into office. Cheers –
Spot on! Further, vote out the school board members and abolish the sham Anchorage Daily News (Washington Post).
BTW, my cat wants to be ‘Gay’. Cooked her some ‘steak’, now she’s happy,,
Who elected the mayor? What was the turnout and which groups garnered 100% turnout while the rest stayed home (or had to work)? Why are elections on random odd days and not in sync with the nation? Anchorage needs a ballot box revolution to return to normalcy or the socialist radicals will continue to domineer over the masses.
want to know where anchorage is heading??? check out other peacefully and blissful cities ran by democrat lefties, its easy just turn on the tv, several to choose from.
Seattle,Portland, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, the list grows as your freedoms shrink
“Bronson to save the soul of Anchorage!” I’m onboard.
By the end of 2019, Anchorage was crawling back from the economic downturn which began several years ago when the price of oil dropped 70%. . But Berkowitz and the radical assembly realized that a good economy would help Trump get re-elected. So they decided to use the virus hoax as a reason to drive the price of oil back down, close the state to tourists and shut down all the small businesses. Then they flooded the town with homeless people, drunks, drug addicts and Black Lives Matters protestors. In short, the radical left has purposely ruined a great town to stop our strong President from making Anchorage great again. It’s absurd that one person from San Francisco came here with the goal of completely ruining our beautiful Anchorage, and that he did it so perfectly and quickly. Are Bethel, Fairbanks and other prosperous, wealthy cities in Alaska the next innocent victims of the radical elites?
Bronson certainly is the opposite of Berkowitz. Bronson doesn’t have any experience running an administration and seems to be completely unaware of and unconcerned about how to do. You could probably pick someone off the street who would be better qualified.
You don’t need experience to run this city just have some good people around you and listen to your voter base. Sounds like you would be OK with a homeless person in charge.
Depends upon how smart they are. And how well organized. Is Bronson smart and well organized or just ticked off? And it takes experience to run an operation as large as the Municipality of Anchorage. Not admitting that is just plain silly. If anyone could do it, we wouldn’t be having these problems. Problem is, anybody can’t.
Those several Republicans who claim people like Bronson are “too conservative” are the wolves in sheep’s clothing. Anchorage desperately needs more “too conservative” representatives.
Frankly, this column is little more than hagiography for Mr. Bronson. I do not know Mr. Bronson. Missing from the discussion, and highly relevant, is whether Mr. Bronson has the tools to function as an effective Mayor. (Hint: There are no rudder pedals under the Mayor’s desk…). Does he have some ideas on what the MOA should do differently? Just declaring opposition to things is probably not going to cut it. Having a set of core conservative principles is a good starting point, but then – what comes next?
Beating the Left and the Unions in an MOA election with mail-in voting will require principles, discipline, money, an organization and a significant spark of something. There are arguably three conservatives in the race. Who can be the better candidate?
Wow, look at that, a voice of reason thinking critically about this instead of all these jokers in the comments thinking that anywhere left of Mussolini is a “radical leftist socialist”
I admire your rationality in noting that being “not Berkowitz” is not a qualifier for a competent mayor
I totally agree, voters should remember this; socialism has to be voted in but can never be voted out.
At this point the late Charles Bronson would be an improvement over the current incumbent
Yes we need a conservative but he must be politically and governmentally knowledgeable, a well spoken person with a plan and, most importantly, electable.
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