Austin Quinn-Davidson wins West Anchorage Assembly seat in special election

Attorney Austin Quinn-Davidson has won a special election fill a vacant West Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly.

Quinn-Davidson, the legal affairs director for Great Land Trust, had nearly 50 percent of the vote Tuesday night in preliminary results. She slightly widened her lead Wednesday, as officials counted hundreds more votes that had been cast on Election Day. Close to 8,500 ballots had been counted overall.

Elections officials said mail-in ballots will continue to trickle in over the next few days. Ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will be counted until Aug. 17.

On Wednesday night, second-place finisher Nikki Rose, who gained 31 percent of the vote, posted on her campaign Facebook page congratulating Quinn-Davidson on her victory.

The unusual midsummer election focused on issues like crime and economic development.

Quinn-Davidson will replace Tim Steele, who resigned from the Assembly in June for health reasons. Eric Croft, also an Anchorage attorney, is the other West Anchorage representative.

She will be sworn in during the Assembly's Aug. 28 meeting. Her term ends in April 2020.