Amy Demboski won nearly all the polling precincts in her home community of Chugiak-Eagle River in Tuesday's mayoral runoff election, but very few other Anchorage precincts, according to poll data.
With all but absentee and questioned ballots counted, Ethan Berkowitz was elected mayor with 59.3 percent of the vote, while Demboski received 40.7 percent, according to unofficial results posted by the city Wednesday. Absentee ballots were still being counted, but as of Wednesday, Berkowitz's vote percentage appeared to be the highest of any candidate in at least two decades, according to historical vote records on the municipality's website.
Voters in districts that have sent Republicans to the Legislature for years turned out to vote for Berkowitz, a Democrat. That included the Sand Lake area and the vast majority of South Anchorage, according to a precinct-by-precinct breakdown provided by the city clerk's office.
Demboski won a Huffman-area precinct in the district represented by Cathy Giessel and Mike Hawker, where turnout was 32 percent and the tally showed Demboski received 239 votes to Berkowitz's 220 votes. She also won two precincts at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, though turnout was less than 2 percent combined.
Demboski's biggest victory came at a Peters Creek precinct, where turnout was 32 percent and she beat Berkowitz 474 votes to 329. She won six of seven precincts in District 16 in Chugiak-Eagle River, in addition to eight others in the area, including the Eklutna precinct.
Elsewhere, Berkowitz was the victor, in some cases by large margins. Some of the more lopsided counts came from downtown and West Anchorage neighborhoods, near where Berkowitz lives. At Turnagain United Methodist Church, where turnout was 46 percent, Berkowitz received 654 votes to Demboski's 215. At one Midtown precinct, with 42 percent turnout, Berkowitz received 464 votes and Demboski received 154.
The community of Girdwood gave Berkowitz 474 votes over Demboski's 95, with 32 percent turnout.
Berkowitz was not available for an interview Wednesday. His campaign spokeswoman, Nora Morse, said he was spending the day resting with family.
A total of 61,567 voters cast ballots in the election, not counting last-minute absentee ballots that may still be in the mail. That number is an increase of about 4,000 from the first round of voting on April 7.