2022 Anchorage municipal election

Anchorage’s municipal clerk, in various responses to the complaints, found no widespread issues or any that would impact election results, and the city’s election commission has said it found that any mistakes or issues are “fairly minor” and unlikely to change election outcomes.

Unprecedented spending and coordination among a slate of conservative challengers aligned with the mayor still resulted in middling turnout and a general status quo.

Assembly candidate Stephanie Taylor had 42% of the vote in Friday’s results. In a Facebook post, Taylor said, “We worked very hard to bring home a victory for both you, and the city of Anchorage; but it was not to be.”

Without the roughly $111 million bond package, a number of spending priorities for the school district are on hold.

The school bond package is failing, and in a statement Wednesday, the Anchorage School District said it “has started the process of researching next steps.”

Kevin Cross appears set to take outgoing Eagle River/Chugiak Assembly member Crystal Kennedy’s seat with 62% of the vote.

The Anchorage Assembly majority will likely retain enough members to override the mayor’s vetoes.

Early results show the Assembly majority is likely retaining enough members to override Mayor Bronson’s vetoes, and a major proposition to upgrade school district buildings is failing by a small number of votes.

Also under the latest vote counts, two bond proposals are now failing by small margins, including a major proposition to upgrade school district buildings

South Anchorage Assembly member John Weddleton is trailing challenger Randy Sulte by a slim margin.

The combination of heated rhetoric, big political spending, and mail-in voting has left everyone from candidates to consultants guessing on who will win.

“I think both sides recognize that this is a pivotal point in Anchorage,” said Craig Campbell, vice chair of the Alaska Republican Party and a former chief of staff to Mayor Dave Bronson.

Candidates in the five races have received over a million dollars in direct donations, and still more from political action groups.

The 2021 Anchorage municipal election saw slow early ballot counts and harassment of election officials. This year, election officials say things are running more smoothly.

Observers say the unusual sums are in part due to changes in state campaign finance law — and also a heavily politicized battle for control of Anchorage’s government.

We asked candidates for Anchorage Assembly and Anchorage School Board a series of questions about issues and challenges facing the city. Read their responses in advance of the April 5 election.

Five Anchorage Assembly seats and two school board seats are up for election this year.

After signing up at anchoragevotes.com, voters can get automatic BallotTrax updates via email, text or phone call — or a combination.

The Anchorage School District is now on an every-other-year bond cycle, so its bond proposal is about twice the amount of its previous annual proposals.

In East Anchorage, where Assembly incumbent Forrest Dunbar faces first-time candidate Stephanie Taylor, over $250,000 has flowed into the race in direct campaign donations.

By the time registration for candidacy closed Friday at 5 p.m., 15 people, including four incumbents, had filed for the five seats up for grabs on the Assembly. One sitting Assembly member, Crystal Kennedy, will not seek reelection.