Bronson, LaFrance poised for runoff in Anchorage mayoral election

Anchorage mayoral candidates Dave Bronson and Suzanne LaFrance appear headed to a runoff in preliminary Anchorage municipal election results posted Tuesday.

Former Assembly chair LaFrance had 36% of the vote while incumbent Mayor Bronson had 35% of the vote. Trailing the two leaders in early results, former Anchorage Economic Development Corp. leader Bill Popp had 17% of the vote, and former state Rep. Chris Tuck had 8% of the vote.

Any candidate in the Anchorage mayor’s race would have to receive 45% of the vote to win outright, so the top two vote-getters will face each other once again in a runoff ending May 14.

[Anchorage mayor’s race heads to second round, with Bronson and LaFrance set for May runoff]

Election officials had counted ballots from 44,896 voters as of Tuesday evening, representing 19% of the city’s 237,360 registered voters. Tuesday night’s results included tallies for all ballots returned to the election center as of Tuesday morning, according to Acting Election Administrator William Northrop. Election workers had not yet processed ballots that, later Tuesday, were returned to secure drop boxes or cast at Anchorage vote centers.

“I’m very optimistic,” LaFrance said after Tuesday’s returns were posted. “The likelihood of moving to the runoff looks good. And I’m super excited about these initial results.”

“We’ve always anticipated a runoff,” Bronson told reporters at his campaign headquarters. “We’ve got the money we need. We’ve definitely got the team we need.”

Voters were also electing three Anchorage School Board members, and on Tuesday all three incumbents were leading the challengers in their respective races.

[Incumbents hold wide leads in Anchorage School Board races]

Preliminary results show that for school board seat E, Pat Higgins was leading Kay Schuster with 56% of the vote.

For seat G, Carl Jacobs was leading Chelsea Pohland with 58% of the vote.

For seat F, Dora Wilson was leading Angela Frank with 63% of the vote.

Anchorage voters also weighed in on nine bonds and propositions. Tuesday’s preliminary results show all are passing with the exception of a $5 million bond that would fund the addition of 10 public restrooms across the municipality, and another that would fund new cemeteries in Eagle River and Girdwood. A $62.3 million school district bond proposal was passing with 52% of the vote in preliminary results.

[Anchorage election preliminary results show voters approving all propositions except bathroom, cemetery bonds]

Eagle River/Chugiak voters also saw an Assembly candidate on their ballots, Mark Littlefield. He ran unopposed and will replace member Kevin Cross on the Assembly, who resigned before his term ended in 2025.

Officials will continue counting ballots as they arrive in the days to come. The regular election is set to be certified April 23.