Fairbanks conservatives had a golden opportunity to build on their 2020 victories but were unable to duplicate last year’s success when they won seven of eight borough and city races.
The unofficial results of the Oct. 5 election show that hard-left candidates easily won all three Assembly races, both school board contests and one of two city council seats. Incumbent Borough Mayor Bryce Ward, however, handily defeated his challengers.
About 23% of registered voters participated in the election (17,529 people) with nearly 15,000 choosing to cast their ballots on election day.
Mayor Ward earned 11,376 votes to just 1,387 for his closest challenger, Robert Shields.
The Borough Assembly was a clean sweep for progressives with none of the contests very competitive. For Assembly Seat A, David Guttenberg defeated conservative Kevin McKinley – 7,581 to 6,328. Seat F went to leftist Savannah Fletcher, who easily beat her conservative opponent Patricia Silva – 7,908 to 5,911. For Seat G, Kristin Kelly bested conservative former Assemblyman Lance Roberts – 7,808 to 6,144.
Both hard-left school board incumbents cruised to victory over their pro-life, conservative challengers. Erin Morotti defeated Andrew Graham – 7,223 to 5,593. Likewise, Chrya Sanderson kept her seat with a 7,334 to 6,256 advantage over Jeffery Rentzel.
On the Fairbanks City Council front, the more conservative-minded Jerry Cleworth defeated leftist incumbent Shoshana Kun – 1,801 to 1,246. In the other city council race, leftist June Rogers defeated conservative Jonathan Bagwill – 1,588 to 1,355.
Click here to read the Fairbanks City Council election summary report.
