By THERESA BIRD
In less than a month, ballots for Anchorage’s Municipal election will be mailed to homes. Once ballots start to arrive, people will begin filling them out. Traditional polling places will not be open and are not an option for voting on April 7th, “Election Day.” Hence, we have approximately 26 days to make sure our friends and neighbors are aware of our opportunity to flip the Anchorage Assembly from radical Leftist to a conservative majority.
Since recommending who to vote for in each district three weeks ago, I’ve heard a mix of optimism, skepticism, and outright pessimism that conservatives in Anchorage will be able to pull this off.
Voter apathy is real, and the behavior of our Municipal officials has only encouraged its metastasis. Not many trust local Anchorage elections anymore, beclouded as they are with mail-in voting, ballot curing, and computer tabulation of votes. The ability of election observers to effectively oversee vote counting has been severely limited by the Municipal Clerk and the Assembly’s Marxist Nine since they rewrote Title 28 of Municipal Code in 2021. This occurred – coincidentally, I’m sure – shortly after Anchorage elected a conservative mayor.
Add to these coincidences the operations of dark money groups such as 907 Initiative and Ship Creek Group. These benevolent political mercenaries canvass Anchorage with their seemingly neutral “report cards.” I am sure it is coincidental that their “report cards” all laud liberal causes and bash conservatives. In 2025 the voter turnout in Anchorage’s municipal election was an abysmal 25.38% of registered voters.
I can’t blame anybody for being skeptical of our chances of flipping six seats on the Assembly this year. The Left and its union allies are consistently outperforming us by working together without infighting and apparently convincing their constituents to vote in large enough numbers to maintain their iron grip on our local government.
Do we give up? Mope our way through the next 40 days, resigned to imminent failure?
Admitting defeat is not an option in my book. But I do admit that we cannot succeed in reclaiming Anchorage if we trust solely in our own efforts. We need God’s help.
Entrusting political causes to Almighty God and asking His help in ordering human affairs is, and should be, the norm in the United Sates of America. From the first Continental Congress to the 119th Congress convened in January 2025, our representatives have opened their meetings with a prayer (not a land acknowledgement!). No less than us, they needed God’s help, protection, and guidance as they sought to order the civic life of a new nation.
Our nation is rooted in love and gratitude to God, from Whom we derive our inherent dignity and rights under the Natural Law. As President Trump noted in his February 18th Ash Wednesday Presidential Message: “the practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have been foundational to our strength from the earliest days of our national story. From the Colonists who turned to prayer and fasting in the heart of the Revolutionary War to the unmatched compassion and generosity of America’s churches, hospitals, and charitable institutions, these righteous acts have always stood at the center of our identity, our heritage, and our way of life.”
If this battle for Anchorage seems hopeless because there’s a mountain of manmade obstacles, let’s turn it over to God who made both mountains and men. Abraham Lincoln once said, “I’ve been driven to my knees many times in my life by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” In addition to political action, pray in the privacy of your home, pray with your families, pray with your friends. Pray with your fellow parishioners when you gather at church, pray in the public square, pray before you begin any endeavor with the political action group to which you belong. If you’re running for public office, pray every day with your campaign team.
Ask God to forgive our sins and shower His mercy upon us as we seek to re-order our civic life in Anchorage. We’ll be in good company.
Theresa Bird is a wife and homeschooling mother of nine. She earned her BA in Philosophy at Thomas More College of Liberal Arts in Merrimack, NH. She lives in Anchorage.
