LIBERALS HAVE STRONG SHOWING IN SCHOOL BOARD RACES
Although the counting isn’t over, Forrest Dunbar is leading in the race for Anchorage mayor, with 13,711 votes, while Dave Bronson has 12,986. That’s with 41,198 votes counted in the election that ended April 6.
Third-place finisher Bill Falsey will not proceed to the runoff ballot in May, but won 5,312 votes so far, enough to build his name recognition for a future political race. Coming in fourth was Bill Evans, with 3,871 votes. Mike Robbins trailed.
About 58,000 ballots had been sorted by the Division of Elections at the Muni, and that means there are at least 16,800 votes in hand that are yet to be counted, and an unknown number that are in the mail, but not yet arrived.
With that, it’s evident that Assemblyman Felix Rivera will escape being recalled from his midtown Assembly seat. There are 6,582 votes already tallied in that district, and he is being retained 3,821 to 2,761, so far. The delta is considerable and not something that can probably be closed by remaining votes. Rivera is a far-left liberal who chairs the Assembly.
It appears that the liberal candidates have also retained and even strengthened their stronghold on the school board in Anchorage, with conservative candidates splitting the votes and falling behind.
In School Board Seat B, a one-year term to replace retired member Starr Marsett, Kelly Lessens has a lead over Judy Norton Eledge, 14,494 to 13,588.
In School Board Seat E, Pat Higgins has a solid lead over Sami Graham, 12,549 to 11,326.
In School Board Seat F, Dora Wilson outpaces Kim Paulsen, 16,491 to 11,769.
Conservative Elise Vakalis has been ousted by liberal Carl Jacobs, 18,161 to 16,914 for School Board Seat G.
These numbers will change as more votes are counted. They are unofficial and preliminary.
All results to date can be seen at this link.
Check back, as this story will be updated.
