Anchorage

Campaign fundraising shows competitive Assembly races shaping up for West and South Anchorage seats

A majority of the Anchorage Assembly’s 12 seats are up for election, with seven members set to be determined on the April ballot.

That could have major implications for the city’s legislative branch, which now has had a majority decisive enough to regularly override vetoes by Mayor Dave Bronson on contentious issues and push investigations into the administration.

So far, candidates aligned with the current left-of-center Assembly majority — incumbents and newcomers alike — are generally outperforming or keeping even with right-leaning rivals in campaign fundraising, according to the latest round of financial disclosures filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, which track donations collected last year through mid-February.

But races for seats in West Anchorage and South Anchorage are competitive in terms of political spending, with the candidates running roughly neck-and-neck in both instances.

It’s a marked departure from last year, when a slate of conservative candidates promising to work closely with Bronson vigorously campaigned to pull the body to the right. Benefiting from lingering frustration toward Assembly members by activist donors and political action committees, as well as newly lifted campaign spending limits in Alaska, candidates on both sides raised sums more befitting statewide races. In the end it amounted to very little: three of the four conservative challengers who coordinated their campaigns lost.

Only two candidates in this year’s Assembly races are incumbents — Christopher Constant and Felix Rivera. Both are drastically outperforming challengers.

In the five other races, candidates with moderate to progressive views are receiving the support of outgoing Assembly members, liberal politicians, union groups, and are broadly campaigning to keep the body’s majority intact. Their opponents are running to challenge the status quo, championing right-leaning political causes, and receiving endorsements and donations from conservative activists, politicians and groups.

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Most money flows West and South

In West Anchorage, candidate Brian Flynn has raised more money in the race to take over the seat currently held by Austin Quinn-Davidson, who is not seeking reelection. Flynn is a small business owner with a background in real estate. He’s married to Bronson administration purchasing director Rachelle Alger. He has taken in $43,365, the most of any candidate in this year’s field thus far, a good share of it in the form of hefty four-figure contributions from business owners and real estate figures. Flynn is sitting on a lot of that cash, having only spent $10,654 to date, giving him a sizable war chest for the last leg of the campaign, when outreach to voters ramps up as mail ballots begin arriving at peoples’ homes.

Project management consultant Anna Brawley has raised and spent close to the same amount, at $35,150 and $9,690, respectively. She has received financial contributions from both Quinn-Davidson and the district’s other member, Kameron Perez-Verdia, among other Democrat-leaning politicians, union groups, and many small-dollar donors.

Though the district has a third candidate running, Dustin Darden, he has reported no campaign income.

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The case is much the same in the South Anchorage race to replace outgoing Chair Suzanne LaFrance, who decided not to pursue a third term. First-time candidate Zac Johnson, running with the backing of several union groups and moderate elected officials, has taken in $24,728. However, $6,000 of that has been from his own pocket. And on top of the $4,620 reported to APOC as expenses, the campaign also lists $14,448 in debts, much of it having gone to the Ship Creek Group for campaign management.

Running against him is Rachel Ries, who lost a bid for school board last year but has earned the endorsement of prominent conservative politicians and Republicans, including Bronson, Eagle River Assembly member Kevin Cross, and South Anchorage Assembly member Randy Sulte. Ries has amassed $16,595 in donations, almost all of it from individual givers, and has spent $4,252.

Given the political composition of the district, South Anchorage is seen as highly competitive. In last year’s election, it was the only district to see an incumbent, moderate John Weddleton, replaced by Sulte, a conservative challenger.

A third candidate for the seat, Mikel Insalaco, has reported no campaign income to date.

Incumbents far outraise challengers

In the race to represent downtown, incumbent Assembly member Constant is running for a third term, has raised nearly $30,000. One of his challengers, John Trueblood, has reported raising $100, which he gave himself in cash. The other, Nick Danger, has reported no donations.

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It’s a similar story in the Midtown district, where incumbent Assembly member Rivera has raised close to $11,000 so far, a mix of $1,000 contributions from union groups and small-dollar donations. His challenger, Travis Szanto, a carpenter, reported giving his campaign $100. No other donations are filed on his most recent APOC disclosure.

The race to serve out the remaining two years in the east-side district vacated by now-state Sen. Forrest Dunbar is comparably one-sided in terms of fundraising. Former teacher and first-time candidate Karen Bronga has raised $21,306, most of it from small donors, with a mix of meatier contributions from former and current elected officials. Her rival, political campaign consultant Leigh Sloan, has collected a single $250 donation. Last year, the race for this same seat, which Dunbar comfortably won over challenger Stephanie Taylor, saw $464,312 in political contributions.

The same district has a second seat up for election, as Pete Petersen is barred by term-limits from running again. There, former mayoral candidate and former Alaska Humanities Forum program director George Martinez, who has been campaigning since last spring, has taken in $39,189, with donations from current and former politicos, small-dollar contributions, as well as some from organized labor political action committees. Already he has spent more than $17,000 on a mix of campaign management, events and supplies.

Running against him is Spencer Moore, outreach director at Mountain City Church, formerly known as Anchorage Baptist Temple. Moore’s only outside donation is $5,000 from Crystal Hoffman, wife of Ron Hoffman, the head pastor of Mountain City Church.

The dynamic is inverted in the Eagle River race, which is an open field to take over now-state Rep. Jamie Allard’s seat. Bronson-backed real estate broker Scott Myers is vastly outraising his rival, having so far reported over $20,000 in donations, though he has spent just about as much, almost all of it on a local campaign consultant and marketing work done by Axiom Strategies, a national Republican firm. His rival, Jim Arlington, has reported no campaign income to APOC.

Ballots will be mailed on March 14. The last day for in-person voting and mailing back ballots is April 4.

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Zachariah Hughes

Zachariah Hughes covers Anchorage government, the military, dog mushing, subsistence issues and general assignments for the Anchorage Daily News. He also helps produce the ADN's weekly politics podcast. Prior to joining the ADN, he worked in Alaska’s public radio network, and got his start in journalism at KNOM in Nome.

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