Dave Bronson has once again increased his lead over Forrest Dunbar in the latest tally of votes for who will become the next mayor of Anchorage.

As of May 13, the conservative Bronson now leads his far-left liberal opponent by 627 votes – 40,810 to 40,183. The razor close race is now separated by a margin of 0.78% – 50.39% to 49.61%. In order for the city to conduct an automatic recount the vote must be 0.5% or less, which means if the current margin holds, or expands, there would be no recount unless the Dunbar camp requests and pays for one.

So far, 34.6% of eligible voters have cast a ballot, with a few thousand more left to tally.

“Still too close to call but we are very pleased,” Bronson’s team posted on Facebook May 13. “Big thank you to all of the volunteers spending countless hours observing the counts. If it holds, our lead has us now at more than one half percent, which would avoid an automatic recount.”

On election night, Dunbar held a 114-vote lead, but that was expected to melt away as ballots from in-person and election day voters were tallied. This group is more inclined to vote on the traditional day of the election (this year May 11), and many have a penchant for casting their ballots in person.

On May 12, Bronson held a 278-vote lead, and the latest tally padded the advantage yet again.

On election night, Bronson said he expected later votes to break in his favor just as they did in the initial April 6 election, which ultimately resulted in the May 11 runoff.

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