Anchorage Assembly certifies vote in Meg Zaletel’s defeat of recall effort

The Anchorage Assembly has certified the results of a special election initiative to recall Midtown Assembly member Meg Zaletel, in which she defeated the effort to remove her from office.

Voters rejected the recall by a nearly 20% margin, with 59.9% voting no and just over 40% voting yes. The election saw a 25.4% voter turnout.

Zaletel received more votes in her favor in the recall vote than when she was initially elected to the seat in 2019 — an increase of more than 1,200 votes in her favor. Zaletel is up for reelection in April.

The campaign to recall Zaletel sprang from a conservative movement against the Assembly’s handling of pandemic restrictions in Anchorage and a plan last year to purchase buildings for homeless and treatment services using CARES Act funds, which Zaletel and a majority of the Assembly supported.

The initiative to recall Zaletel was technically based on an accusation that she violated public meeting rules during a public health state of emergency. Still, both sides acknowledged that the campaign, which was launched and funded by a group of vocal conservative activists, was actually about policy disagreements with the liberal-leaning Assembly and a struggle over the direction of politics in the city.

The other member of the Assembly from Midtown, Felix Rivera, also defeated a similar recall effort this year by a wide margin.