In the week since progressives pulled off a clean sweep of the Fairbanks North Star Borough elections — where every candidate finished with a 1,000-vote margin or greater — two progressives have announced their plans to run for mayor next year.
That includes FNSB Assembly member Savannah Fletcher, an attorney with the Northern Justice Project, and former Democratic Fairbanks Rep. Grier Hopkins, whose father served as borough mayor and whose uncle David Guttenberg is also on the Assembly.
Two conservatives — soon-to-be-former Assembly Chair Aaron Lojewski and former Republican North Pole Sen. John Coghill — had already filed paperwork to fundraise for a mayoral race ahead of this year’s election.
In her announcement, Fletcher highlighted the need to make meaningful investments in the community around schools, roads, recreation and housing. She also highlighted the need for sustainability as well as transparency within the borough government and the need to improve borough employee morale.
“I am excited and honored to share that I am running for Mayor of our Fairbanks North Star Borough,” Fletcher said in a prepared statement. “I do not take this decision lightly. I love Fairbanks. Our community is resilient and creative. I want to ensure that everything we love about our Borough can be sustained, so that we, and the generations to come, thrive.”
Hopkins, who lost his race for the Legislature after redistricting swung his seat far to the right, also talked in his launch about the need for investment in the community, particularly around infrastructure, energy costs and child care.
“A housing crunch, education shortfalls, energy costs, a deteriorating downtown, lack of childcare, economic opportunity and a declining population – Together we can solve these challenges and whatever comes Fairbanks’ way,” he said. “I believe in our entire community: Our people, families, our businesses, and the possibilities we can achieve through hard work and perseverance. As mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, I will work for the improvement of every neighborhood, listen to every individual, and never stop fighting for the future of Fairbanks.”
As with the race for Anchorage Mayor, where things have already become bitter between the two leading progressive candidates, there’s already some chatter about what may happen with the Fairbanks North Star Borough race. Here, however, there’s no established right-wing incumbent with moderate-leaning conservative Mayor Bryce Ward at the end of his term limit.
At the very least, it’s hoped that the Anchorage mayoral race in the spring of next year might offer a blueprint for progressives in the Golden Heart City.
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.
