The April 4 election is shaping up to be yet another victory lap for Anchorage’s hardline cultural leftists. If Tuesday night’s early returns are any indication, liberals will continue their supermajority dominance on the Assembly and school board.
Of the seven Assembly races up for grabs, liberals lead in six contests. Only the Eagle River seat has a conservative ahead. If initial results hold, Assembly leftists will maintain their 9-3 advantage.
Similarly, the leftist school board will likely remain ideologically unchanged. Longtime incumbent Dave Donley – the lone conservative voice – has a 57% to 43% edge on challenger Irene Boll, while Planned Parenthood indorsed incumbent Andy Holleman leads conservative challenger Mark Anthony Cox by a margin of 55% to 45%. Barring an overwhelming flood of conservative mail-in ballots over the next few days, liberals will retain a 6-1 advantage.
While none of the early returns show tight races, there are still tens of thousands of mail-in ballots to tally. These will be updated on the city’s website each evening over the course of the next week as ballots trickle in. Click here for the latest results.
As of Tuesday, turnout was just 12.9% of registered voters. That number will tick up as more ballots are counted, but the mail-in election appears to have suffered from a dismal turnout.
Here are the current results for the Assembly races:
— District 1: Chris Constant leads his closest challenger, John Trueblood, 65% to 23%.
— District 2: Eagle River conservative Scott Myers leads Jim Arlington 57% to 43%. If Myers wins, he will join fellow Eagle River Assemblyman Kevin Cross and District 6 Assemblyman Randy Sulte as the only members who lean conservative.
— District 3: Anna Brawley leads conservative Brian Flynn 59% to 37%.
— District 4: Felix Rivera leads conservative Travis Szanto 56% to 44%.
— District 5: Karen Bronga leads conservative Leigh Sloan 60% to 40%.
— District 5: Liberal George Martinez leads conservative Spencer Moore 56% to 44%.
— District 6: Liberal Zac Johnson leads conservative Rachel Ries 54% to 43%.
The Anchorage Assembly is set to certify the election results on April 25.
