Under new boundaries, Anchorage’s Midtown Assembly district becomes more conservative but remains favorable to progressives.
Midtown is one of the least-changed districts following the reapportionment process. The district was pushed slightly west, and is now marginally whiter and more conservative.
During Anchorage’s redistricting process for Assembly seats, Midtown is usually the district most likely to substantially change its boundaries. This year is the exception: 88% of the old district was carried over into the new one. In 2020, voters overwhelmingly passed Prop 12, which added a 12th Assembly member to the body.
The passage of Prop 12 triggered the reapportionment process, which led to major changes to the boundaries of all six Assembly Districts. Check out our interactive map for more detail. The first city-wide election since reapportionment will take place in April.
Boundaries
Here’s a map showing the changes to Midtown’s district:
- Cuts over 3,000 from Fireweed; 1,500 from the U-Med; 1,800 from Airport Heights; and 3,500 from the Dimond area out of the district entirely
- Adds 200 from a portion of Airport Heights previously in East’s district; also 3,400 from Spenard and 2,700 from Arctic join the district
- The communities of Rogers Park, Campbell Park, Taku-Campbell, the Midtown core, and Abbott Loop were kept in Midtown’s new district — 42,500 people total.
Demographics
Midtown has always been very demographically diverse, and stretches over a large geographical area of Anchorage. Midtown ranges from high-income and predominantly white communities like Rogers Park (70% white, average median household income of $97,000), to high-income and diverse communities like Abbott Loop (51% white, median household incomes ranging from $90,000-$120,000), to low-income, diverse, working-class neighborhoods in the U-Med and Spenard.
After reapportionment, Midtown lost some of its most diverse areas, like the Dimond Estates Trailer Park (20% White, 30% Hispanic, 31% Asian) and the eastern side of Airport Heights across from Sunrise Drive (41% White, 18% Asian, and 15% Alaska Native).
At the same time, Midtown picked up more high-income and diverse neighborhoods in the Arctic/Sand Lake area, as well as diverse working class neighborhoods in Spenard.
| Demographic | Anchorage Muni | Old Midtown | New Midtown |
| White | 56.5% | 52% | 55% |
| Minority | 43.5% | 48% | 45% |
| Hispanic | 9% | 9% | 8% |
| Black | 5% | 6.5% | 6% |
| Asian | 9.5% | 16% | 14% |
| Alaska Native | 8% | 15% | 14.5% |
| NH/PI | 3% | 4% | 4% |
Partisanship
Like much of Anchorage, most of Midtown has shifted left. This is due to several factors including increased educational attainment, which correlates with political preferences more and more every year.
Additionally, Midtown’s relatively comfortable support for progressive and liberal candidates has been held down by three progressive strongholds: Rogers Park, Airport Heights, and Abbott Loop. This is true of both statewide and municipal elections. Every House district overlapped with Midtown’s Assembly districts are represented by a Democrat or liberal-leaning Independent, and both Midtown Assembly members Felix Rivera and Meg Zaletel are progressives.
Here’s a map of both Forrest Dunbar’s performance in the 2021 mayoral election and Meg Zaletel’s recent reelection to the Assembly in April of 2022:
As you can see, while other areas of the district are relatively progressive, the district would be far more conservative without sky-high support in the strongholds that carry the district.
Note that Midtown loses half of Airport Heights to the East side in the new district. This loss is enough to bring Midtown’s overall partisanship lean down a couple points.
| Race | Anchorage Muni | Old Midtown | New Midtown |
| 2020 President | Biden +2 | Biden +10 | Biden +9 |
| 2021 Anc Mayoral Runoff | Bronson +1.32 | Dunbar +10 | Dunbar +7 |
| ‘16 – ’20 Average | GOP+2 | DEM +9 | DEM +6 |
What is the impact? Progressives are expected to hold the district. However, in 2020, Assembly member Felix Rivera came within two points of losing to Save Anchorage extremist Christine Hill. It’s possible that under Midtown’s new district boundaries, Hill would have beat Rivera.
Rivera has filed to run for his third term. One year after his close reelection in 2020, Rivera defeated a recall attempt in 2021 by 13 points.
Dayton Keliikipi, a military veteran, has filed to challenge Rivera.
