The third day of vote counting in the Anchorage election wrapped April 7 with at least 14,000 ballots still yet to be tallied. So far, there has been no substantial change from election night in key Anchorage Assembly and school board contests. Two bond packages, however, are now narrowly failing. The $111 million school construction and maintenance bond was losing 50.77% to 49.23%, while the $2.4 million city facilities and capital improvement bond was also failing 50.79% to 49.21%.
As of April 7, the Election Center on Ship Creek had received more than 68,400 ballots with more on the way. Roughly 41,300 votes were counted on election night with another 4,900 tabulated April 7, and 8,600 tallied today.
Three of the four leftist Anchorage Assembly incumbents are still comfortably ahead. Fellow liberal incumbent John Weddleton, however, has fallen further behind conservative challenger Randy Sulte, who now has a 577-vote lead.
Unfortunately for conservatives, if current results hold, the Anchorage Assembly will remain firmly controlled by the radical leftists. Conservatives would pick up one seat, for a total of three, but still one short of being able to block the other eight Assembly members from overriding Mayor Dave Bronson’s
vetoes. Conservatives had hoped to pick up enough seats to empower Bronson’s veto authority and bring some balance to city politics.
The Eagle River seat, which is open thanks to the retirement of Crystal Kennedy, will likely remain in conservative hands with Kevin Cross far outpacing his liberal opponent, Gretchen Wehmhof.
The school board also looks as if it will remain controlled by the 6-1 leftist majority. The two conservative candidates – Mark Anthony Cox and Rachel Reis – have not recouped any significant ground since election day, and still trail the two Planned Parenthood-endorsed incumbents, Margo Bellamy and Kelly Lessens, by wide margins.
Additional election updates will be released throughout the rest of the week and next as mail-in ballots that were postmarked by April 5 continue to arrive. Results will be posted at 5 p.m. each day.
VOTE COUNTS
ANCHORAGE ASSEMBLY
Eagle River: District 2 Seat A
— Kevin Cross – 4,825 (60.27%)
— Gretchen Wehmhof – 2,778 (34.7%)
— Vanessa Stephens – 402 (5.02%)
West Anchorage: District 3 Seat D
— Kameron Perez-Verdia – 5,216 (53.57%)
— Liz Vazquez – 4,034 (41.43%)
— Nial Sherwood Williams – 486 (4.99%)
Midtown Anchorage: District 4 Seat F
— Meg Zaletel – 4,727 (52.87%)
— Kathy Henslee – 4,214 (47.13%)
East Anchorage: District 5 Seat H
— Forrest Dunbar – 5,268 (55.66%)
— Stephanie Taylor – 3,944 (41.67%)
— Christopher Hall – 252 (2.66%)
South Anchorage: District 6 Seat J
— Randy Sulte – 7,405 (51.17%)
— John Weddleton – 6,828 (47.18%)
— Darin Colbry – 238 (1.64%)
SCHOOL BOARD SEATS
Seat A:
— Margo Bellamy – 25,066 (49.39%)
— Mark Anthony Cox – 20,224 (39.85%)
— Cliff Murray – 3,831 (7.55%)
— Dan Loring – 1,630 (3.21%)
Seat B:
— Kelly Lessens – 25,699 (50.45%)
— Rachel Ries – 21,096 (41.41%)
— Benjamin R. Baldwin – 1,736 (3.41%)
— Dustin Darden – 2,411 (4.73%)
Prop. 1 – School construction/improvement bonds
— Yes – 26,668 (49.23%)
— No – 27,499 (50.77%)
Prop. 2 – City facilities capital improvement bonds
— Yes – 26,628 (49.21%)
— No – 27,488 (50.79%)
Prop. 3 – Public safety and transit bonds
— Yes – 29,731 (54.98%)
— No – 24,346 (45.02%)
Prop. 4 – Road and storm drainage bonds
— Yes – 32,896 (60.73%)
— No – 21,269 (39.27%)
Prop. 5 – Parks and Recreation bonds
— Yes – 29,590 (54.95%)
— No – 24,257 (45.05%)
Prop. 6 – Fire protection bonds
— Yes – 33,452 (62.02%)
— No – 20,487 (37.98%)
