2021 Anchorage mayoral election

2021 Anchorage mayoral election

← 2018 April 6, 2021 (first round)[1] May 11, 2021 (runoff)[2] 2024 →
Turnout	31.88% (first round)[3] 38.35% (runoff)[4]
Candidate Dave Bronson Forrest Dunbar Bill Falsey First round 24,567 32.96% 23,054 30.93% 9,551 12.82% Runoff 45,937 50.66% 44,744 49.34% Eliminated   Candidate Bill Evans Mike Robbins First round 7,073 9.49% 5,766 7.74% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated
Interactive map version Runoff results by precinct: Bronson:   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Dunbar:   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%
Mayor before election Austin Quinn-Davidson Independent Elected Mayor Dave Bronson Republican

Elections in Alaska
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v t e

The 2021 Anchorage mayoral election was held on April 6, 2021, to elect the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska.^[1] As no candidate received at least 45% of the vote in the first round, the two candidates with the highest vote share, Forrest Dunbar and Dave Bronson, advanced to a runoff on May 11.^[2][5] The election was officially nonpartisan. Incumbent independent acting mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, first appointed to the position in October 2020, was eligible to run for reelection to a full term, but did not run.^[6][7][8] The deadline to register to vote in the first round was March 7. Mail-in ballots were sent out starting on March 15. On May 21, 2021, after a narrow loss, Dunbar conceded the race to Bronson.^[9] Bronson was sworn in on July 1.^[5]

Ethan Berkowitz was elected mayor in 2015 and 2018 and was ineligible to run for a third term. On October 13, 2020, he announced his resignation through his chief of staff Jason Bockenstadt at a meeting of the Anchorage Assembly, Anchorage's city council, to be effective October 23. The resignation came after a reporter made allegations that he was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with her.^[10] Felix Rivera, chair of the Anchorage Assembly, was next in the line of succession to the office. After a failed attempt immediately following the resignation announcement, the Assembly met in a special meeting on October 16 to reorganize itself, installing Austin Quinn-Davidson as Assembly chair with Rivera as vice-chair. This move allowed Quinn-Davidson to succeed to the office of mayor and allowed Rivera to retain his position presiding over Assembly meetings.^[10] Quinn-Davidson is both the first female and first openly gay mayor of Anchorage.^[11] On November 4, the Assembly voted not to hold a special election for the position of mayor, meaning that the next election for the seat would be the regularly scheduled one in 2021.^[12]

In the leadup to the general election, it was widely believed that there would be a runoff between Dunbar and one of the more conservative candidates.^[5]

• Dave Bronson (Republican), former U.S. Air Force and commercial pilot^[13]
• Forrest Dunbar (Democratic), Member of the Anchorage Assembly (2016–present), member of the Alaska Army National Guard^[14][15]
• Bill Evans (Independent), Member of the Anchorage Assembly (2014–2017), board and two-time co-chair of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce^[13]
• Bill Falsey (Independent), Anchorage Municipal Manager (2017–2020)^[13]
• George Martinez (Democratic), educator, former special assistant to Ethan Berkowitz for economic development^[13]
• Mike Robbins (Republican), businessman^[13]

• Anna Anthony^[16]
• Jeffrey Brown, social services worker^[16][5]
• Darin Colbry (Republican), candidate for Governor of Alaska in 2018^{[16][13][17][18]}
• Heather Herndon, real estate developer, construction, project manager, accountant, portfolio private placement financier^[16][17][13]
• Jacob Seth Kern (Democratic), perennial candidate^[8][16][19]
• Reza Momin^[16]
• Albert Swank Jr., civil engineer^[16]
• Jacob Versteeg, compliance examiner^[20]
• Joe Westfall^[16]

• Eric Croft (Democratic), former state representative, former member of the Anchorage Assembly, former president of the Anchorage School Board, and candidate for governor of Alaska in 2006^[8][17]
• Dustin Darden, maintenance worker and perennial candidate^[21][22][16]
• Nelson Jesus Godoy, activist and candidate for mayor in 2018^[8][16]

• Austin Quinn-Davidson (Independent), incumbent acting mayor^[17]

Five candidates did not participate in either debate: Anna Anthony, Darin Colbry, Jacob Seth Kern, Reza Momin, and Jacob Versteeg.

In the leadup to the runoff, third-place primary finisher Falsey and sixth-place finisher Martinez endorsed Dunbar, while fifth-place finisher Robbins endorsed Bronson.^[33][34] Fourth-place finisher Evans did not make an endorsement.

Official campaign websites

• Dave Bronson (R) for Mayor Archived January 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
• Forrest Dunbar (D) for Mayor
• Bill Evans (I) for Mayor Archived March 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
• Bill Falsey (I) for Mayor Archived January 20, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
• Heather Herndon for Mayor Archived March 16, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
• George Martinez (D) for Mayor
• Mike Robbins (R) for Mayor Archived January 23, 2021, at the Wayback Machine