Bronson, LaFrance trade barbs in mayoral debate as Anchorage runoff election nears

Incumbent Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson and challenger Suzanne LaFrance, the Assembly’s former chair, clashed over their differences and traded sharp jabs during a Monday debate hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

Anchorage’s runoff election for mayor is rapidly approaching, with ballots set to be mailed to voters Tuesday. The final day to return ballots is May 14.

Bronson attacked LaFrance and the Anchorage Assembly’s supermajority over issues including the city budget and homelessness. Bronson called their disagreements “a conflict of worldviews” that boil down to “woke-ism” versus “normal.”

LaFrance questioned his campaign’s recent focus on partisanship and pushed back on his assertions regarding her politics, saying that the position of mayor is nonpartisan because it is “supposed to represent everyone.”

In campaign messaging to voters and during debates, LaFrance and Bronson have promised to lead the city in starkly different ways. LaFrance has promised to “restore competency” to City Hall and put an end to the strife between city officials seen in recent years.

Bronson says his reelection would help keep balance in city government and put a check on the Assembly’s power. In a recent advertisement, his campaign said a LaFrance mayorship would give the city’s “ultra-woke Assembly” a “rubber stamp at City Hall.”

At Monday’s debate, LaFrance rejected that assertion.

“There is no rubber stamp,” she said.

LaFrance became the Assembly’s chair shortly before Bronson took office in 2021. During the first two years of Bronson’s term, the two were often on opposing sides during clashes between the Bronson administration and Assembly majority.

[Hear from Bronson and LaFrance in May 2 Anchorage mayoral runoff debate]

Anchorage city elections are technically nonpartisan. Local political parties do often play a role, frequently endorsing a favored candidate and/or spending money to support them. LaFrance has been endorsed by a local chapter of Democrats. But in interviews and campaign messaging, LaFrance, who is a registered nonpartisan, says she wants to keep party politics out of the mayor’s office. Bronson, a registered Republican, has the backing of prominent Alaska Republican politicians and describes himself as a conservative.

At one point during Monday’s debate, LaFrance asked Bronson, “Why are you so focused on left versus right and political parties?”

Bronson replied: “You ever read a newspaper or watch the news? The notion that we are not partisan is nonsensical. I’m just telling you, this is a conflict no longer between right and left. It’s no longer between Republicans and Democrats. Those debates are gone. This is about a political ideology called ‘woke-ism.’ And normal. I’m normal — she’s woke. It’s that clear.”

In response, LaFrance said, “It’s not about red or blue, left or right.”

“It’s about our community. And it’s about working together. And we have this tremendous opportunity at the local level, to put aside the stuff at the state and federal level that divides us, and really make progress to make our community a better place. It’s about problem solving,” she said.

“But unfortunately, we’ve seen three years of (Bronson) picking fights and making up stuff,” she said.

During the debate, LaFrance criticized Bronson for what she said is a lack of plans to address the city’s most pressing issues, like homelessness.

“The mayor’s the CEO of our community and is supposed to bring people together to solve problems,” she said.

Bronson, in turn, placed blame on LaFrance and the Assembly for the city’s homelessness problems. Of the 12 Assembly members, “nine of them want to make sure that I fail at every last step,” he said.

Bronson also said that he and the Assembly have disagreed only about 30% of the time.

“I work with people. When I see a bad idea, I’m going to oppose them. That’s not — that’s just disagreeing. That’s not creating enemies. I’m just disagreeing with bad ideas,” Bronson said.

During the Monday debate, Bronson slammed LaFrance over city spending, criticizing the increase in the Assembly’s budget that occurred over the six years LaFrance served on the legislative body.

LaFrance defended her record, saying the Assembly’s budget included money for beefing up city elections and other city services that the Assembly bolstered. “Every budget that I voted for, and that was approved, was balanced. It focused on services,” she said.

(The Assembly’s portion of the budget includes the municipal clerk’s office, the ombudsman’s office, elections, attorneys and legislative services.)

Bronson said he’s against increasing government spending and programs.

“I believe the marketplace and I believe in free enterprise. I think that’s how we can solve nearly all of them to include homelessness, to include the poor,” Bronson said.