Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson this morning conceded the mayoral race to Suzanne LaFrance, two days after the former Anchorage Assembly chair proclaimed victory.
The writing has been on the wall for Bronson since the initial results when LaFrance opened a massive lead over the conservative mayor. That lead has shrunk somewhat in later returns but stayed large enough that it quickly became mathematically improbable for Bronson to mount a comeback.
As of Tuesday, LaFrance had 53.54% of the vote to Bronson’s 46.46%. More than 5,600 votes still separate the candidates, and a little more than 1,000 ballots have been returned but have yet to be tallied. That outlook was enough for LaFrance’s campaign to proclaim victory on Tuesday.
In his concession statement, Bronson highlighted a handful of accomplishments while in office, such as securing funding for the port and working on police pay raises. He said he won’t stand in the way as LaFrance prepares to take over the city’s top elected post July 1.
“As I transition out of office, I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition to Mayor-Elect LaFrance and her team,” Bronson said in a statement Thursday. “While there were challenges, setbacks, and even disagreements along the way, I am grateful for the dedication and hard work my administration put into serving the residents of Anchorage.”
Bronson will leave behind a considerable list of problems for LaFrance to tackle, including late and incomplete financial audits, understaffed city departments and ongoing controversies.
On Tuesday, the Anchorage Assembly requested a report from the Department of Health over the behavior of its largest shelter contractor, Henning, Inc., after a series of leaked text messages between staff and Bronson administration officials discussed fighting clients, tricking oversight, funneling money and securing votes for Bronson with “cigs,” coffee and bus passes.
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Twitter.