The April 1 Election Was No Joke!
Yes, progressives, the light you saw heading towards you for this Municipal Election was NOT an oncoming train! We had a very successful night with a possibility (a long-shot, but a possibility nonetheless) of even better news after questioned and absentee ballots are counted.
First, the current good news!
East Side incumbent Assembly member Adam Trombley has been dumped for a better date – Mr. Pete Petersen! Mao Tosi’s candidacy did not do what his Republican backers wanted — he was unable to pull enough votes from Petersen to give Trombley the win. Pete currently leads Trombley by 336 votes – a difficult, if not impossible difference to overcome with the number of absentee and questioned ballots from that district. However, Mr. Trombley refuses to concede so we will have to wait for those ballots to be counted.
(Mr. Trombley also refused to show up at Election Central. One rumor had him soothing his feelings at Mayor Dan Sullivan’s McGinley’s Pub, but others say he was actually in California when the returns came in. Perhaps he had a feeling how this was going to go.)
Kameron Perez-Verdia
The best news of the night for many folks was that Kameron Perez-Verdia wiped the floor with former School Board Member and unabashed hater-of-refugees Don Smith, thanks in great part to…Don Smith, and his racist tirades.
South Anchorage Assembly Candidate Bruce Dougherty
It’s an even tighter spread between Bruce Dougherty and Bill Evans in the open seat in South Anchorage. Dougherty has more than 200 votes to overcome with absentee and questioned ballots. If he can’t do it, then the former rubber stamp uber-conservative mayoral mouthpiece who represented this district will be replaced by… a new rubber stamp uber-conservative mayoral mouthpiece. Good times.
The Propositions are all passing with the exception of Proposition 3 which is currently down by 289 votes. Because the proposition is citywide, there’s still a chance it could pass. They decided to include moving Mulcahy stadium in the proposition, hoping that the library improvements would carry it through. It may have had the opposite effect, with the library sinking and the Mulcahy millstone around its neck.
Of course, it ain’t over until the last of the absentee, questioned, and special needs ballots are counted. Today’s counting and reviewing of the 1500+ questioned ballots went faster than expected and may be finished tomorrow. Getting through the estimated 6,000 absentee ballots will take longer. This will culminate in the public voter canvass next week, where those who have been notified of a problem with their ballot may plead their case.
Meanwhile, those of us in South Anchorage still hope for Bruce Dougherty to pull a rabbit out of a hat, in the form of a whole bunch of absentee and/or questioned ballots.
Best of luck, Anchorage.
I was listening to KTUU on election night, and they were calling the Peterson/Trombley race too close to call, but then declared Evens a winner when that race was even tighter. Go figure….
When you consider how many votes Tosi likely drew from Peterson, his win would be remarkable.