Dave Bronson gained another 9 vote lead on Wednesday to increase his advantage over Forrest Dunbar. Bronson now is 1,221 votes ahead and far past the percentage threshold to trigger an automatic recount.
With an estimated 1,300 votes left to count, and with every incremental result released by the Anchorage Election Office increasing his lead, Bronson will on July 1 become the 39th mayor in Anchorage’s municipal history.
So far, 90,190 ballots have been received, according to Municipal Clerk Barbara Jones, who noted that the runoff set a new voter turnout record.
The Election Office counted just 427 votes on Wednesday in the runoff between Bronson and Dunbar, which ended May 11. Voters had whittled down a list of 15 mayoral candidates in April for the May runoff, which seems to be taking a long time to count.
Dunbar has not yet conceded, but on Friday said on Facebook he was unlikely to catch Bronson.
The current vote totals are:
- Bronson: 45,639
- Dunbar: 44,418
From 1981 to 1990, Bronson was an active-duty Air Force pilot and served in the USAF Reserves as a plans officer, and as an Alaska Air National Guard maintenance officer and pilot from 1993 to 2005. He was a commercial pilot from 1990 to 2020, when he retired. He and his wife Debra have been married for 35 years and have raised two children.
Bronson ran on a pro-economy, pro-public safety platform. Although he has not yet declared himself the winner, his campaign website has some mention of the transition process and a placeholder link, not yet live, for people to submit ideas and resumes.
