The top two candidates in Anchorage’s mayoral race say they’re preparing for a runoff election in May.
Initial results posted late Tuesday show Suzanne LaFrance with a slight lead over incumbent Mayor Dave Bronson. She has 36%of the vote to his 35%. There are still thousands of ballots left to be counted, but neither candidate is expected to push over the 45% threshold to avoid a runoff.
In a phone interview, LaFrance said she was surprised, “in a good way,” about the initial batch of results.
“We’ve been focused on winning this race and preparing for a runoff,” LaFrance said. “And so, to see clearly, early on, that we’re going to the runoff is really great.”
The runoff election is currently set for May 14, with ballots mailed April 30. Whoever is elected will serve a three-year term as mayor.
Bronson, only trailing LaFrance by roughly 600 votes, said his campaign is right where he wants it to be.
“Right now, financially, we’re in a great position to run a campaign for the next four, five weeks,” Bronson said in a phone interview. “We’re very well prepared for that, because we knew we would need the money for a runoff.”
The pitting of LaFrance and Bronson against each other isn’t anything new to either candidate. LaFrance represented South Anchorage on the Assembly for six years and was Assembly chair for two during Bronson’s term as mayor. LaFrance and Bronson often disagreed over policy, spending and general governance. The Assembly frequently overturned vetoes from the mayor under LaFrance’s tenure, and Bronson said the two are diametrically opposed.
“There couldn’t be a greater contrast between two candidates, me and Suzanne LaFrance,” Bronson said. “She is a member of this ‘woke’ worldview, and I’m more traditional.”
LaFrance has made good governance a pillar of her campaign, and said that’ll be her message to voters as she campaigns during the runoff.
“My pitch is that we can get the basics right, and we can build a better future for everyone in our community,” LaFrance said.
So far, 44,896 ballots have been counted. That’s roughly 60% of the total ballots tallied during the city’s last mayoral election, in 2021.
LaFrance and Bronson faced sizable challenges from two other major candidates, former Anchorage legislator Chris Tuck and former Anchorage Economic Development Corp. President Bill Popp. So far, Popp has around 17% of the vote, while Tuck has roughly 8%.
Check out the full results here.
Eagle River and Chugiak voters also chose to send Mark Littlefield to fill the remaining year on Kevin Cross’s Assembly seat. Cross announced in December that he’d resign from the seat, effective April 1. Littlefield, a retired city street maintenance official, was the only candidate to file for the vacancy.
Officials with the municipal clerk’s office say they’ll continue releasing election results every evening this week. They say Tuesday night’s tally includes the number of ballots received by mail, through a voting center or at a drop box by the end of the day Monday.
