East Anchorage Assembly member Karen Bronga won’t seek reelection this spring

Karen Bronga, a retired educator who has represented East Anchorage on the city’s Assembly since 2022, will not run for reelection.

The news was made public by her chosen successor, Yarrow Silvers, who announced her intent to run for the seat in next April’s municipal elections.

“She is ready to hit the ground running,” Bronga said of Silvers. She formally endorsed Silvers on Monday, and said she would be “a fighter for the East side.”

Bronga was elected in April of 2023 to fill out the remainder of Forrest Dunbar’s term after he was elected to the state Senate. She was part of a group of candidates that cycle and the year prior who campaigned on a moderate-to-progressive slate of issues, chief among them pushing back against some of Mayor Dave Bronson’s agenda.

“It wasn’t meant for me to ever be a long-term politician ... I feel a little bit frustrated up on the dais some of the time,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like my skillset to be writing resolutions and poring through code.”

Silvers entered citywide politics during the early part of the pandemic. She was one of the founding members of Anchorage Action, a group of activists who organized to counter some of the conservative rhetoric and tactics connected to the Save Anchorage movement that rallied behind Bronson’s successful insurgent campaign for mayor in 2021.

“I began following municipal government during the days of Bronson and Save Anchorage. I saw how the national issues and culture wars were tearing our community apart and decided to get involved. My commitment as an Assembly member will be to listen and help bring people together so that everyone in our community can thrive,” Silvers wrote in an emailed response to questions.

She became a regular fixture at raucous and combative Assembly meetings, using opportunities for public comment to criticize the Bronson administration and its allies. She also wrote articles for The Alaska Current, a progressive-leaning website, contributing original reporting on aspects of the Bronson administration mixed with editorializing criticism.

“We must focus on creating affordable housing, addressing homelessness, and providing economic opportunities that keep Anchorage families rooted here,” Silvers wrote in her campaign announcement.

Silvers was born in Glennallen and lived in different parts of rural Alaska before her family settled in Anchorage. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Colorado, and has lived in East Anchorage for the last 10 years. Some of her past work experience was with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and in environmental consulting, as well as “a decade as a stay-at-home mom” raising her two children, she said in her statement. Currently she is a legislative aide for independent Rep. Alyse Galvin.

Her campaign announcement included endorsements from other prominent local politicians, including Democratic state legislators, as well as six of the Assembly’s 12 current members.

Anchorage municipal elections are scheduled for April 1, 2025. Though candidates can announce their intent to run, the window to formally file with local election officials doesn’t begin until Jan. 10.