Updated results show no major changes in Anchorage mayor, school board and recall races

Updated results posted Saturday showed Dave Bronson maintaining a lead over Forrest Dunbar in the election for Anchorage mayor, with the two headed for a runoff on May 11.

The new results, with more than 60,000 ballots now counted, didn’t change leaders in any of the four Anchorage School Board races. The effort to recall Assembly Chair Felix Rivera also failed by a wide margin.

The deadline to register to vote in the runoff is Sunday.

About 1,800 additional ballots were counted on Saturday, bringing the total to 60,253. Bronson had 32.56% of the vote, with Dunbar at 31.68% in the 15-candidate race.

Neither candidate stands to garner the 45% plus one of the vote to win the election outright, forcing the runoff. Like last week’s election, the runoff for mayor will use mail-in balloting, though in-person voting will also be available at a limited number of locations.

Saturday’s results show that District 4 voters are still rejecting an initiative to recall Assembly chair Felix Rivera. So far, about 58% have voted against the initiative.

The leaders of the school board races remained the same: Pat Higgins leads for seat E, Kelly Lessens for seat B, Dora Wilson for seat F and Carl Jacobs for seat G.

Lessens maintained a narrow lead over Judy Eledge, with 20,599 votes to 20,128. In the Seat E, Higgins was leading Sami Graham, 17,504 to 16,774. In the Seat G race, Jacobs leads incumbent Elisa Vakalis 25,762 to 24,432, or 51% to 49%.

Two of the city’s bond propositions were still failing, Saturday’s results show. Proposition 8, a $3.9 million bond proposal to fund new Anchorage police fleet vehicles and other improvements, was failing with just under 49% of the vote. Proposition 1, a $6.9 million bond proposal that would fund various capital projects, was failing with 47% of the vote.

Bronson is a retired military and commercial pilot. He served in the Air Force, Air Force Reserves and Air National Guard, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel. Though the race is technically nonpartisan, his candidacy is a bid to bring conservative leadership to Anchorage.

Dunbar is an Assembly member from East Anchorage. He’s an attorney, and a captain and assistant judge advocate in the Alaska Army National Guard. In 2014 he ran for Congress as a Democrat, losing to Rep. Don Young. He says he’s campaigning for mayor on ‘fact-based leadership.’

[Related: Anchorage mayoral candidate Dave Bronson wants to take the city in ‘a new direction’]

[Related: Forrest Dunbar has served on the Anchorage Assembly through a pandemic and protests. He says he’s campaigning for mayor on ‘fact-based leadership.’]

[Anchorage mayor candidate Q&A: Dave Bronson]

[Anchorage mayor candidate Q&A: Forrest Dunbar]

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Pat Higgens was leading Judy Eledge in the School Board Seat E race. Kelly Lessens is leading that race.