Just 47 votes separated progressive Anchorage Assembly candidate Janice Park and conservative Dave Donley in the race to represent Midtown Anchorage, close enough that an automatic recount is likely in the cards.
As it stands, Park leads the race with 46.56% of the vote to Donley’s 46.12%. That’s within 0.44%, within the 0.5% needed to trigger the automatic recount, and while more ballots have yet to be counted, the Municipal Clerk’s office is preparing for a recount.
In an announcement on Tuesday, the Clerk’s office said that the recount would be scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, April 24, at the Anchorage Election Center.
“The recount will be open to observation by the public in a manner consistent with the orderly conduct of the recount and security of the ballots,” explained the announcement. “The recount shall be limited to reviewing the electronic version of the ballot images, adjudicating those images, tabulating them, and comparing them to the original results for the District 4 race.”
The election workers are set to determine whether a recount is necessary on April 23, when all ballots will have been processed and the city’s ballot-curing window will have closed.
Park’s win would keep the Midtown Anchorage seat in the hands of progressives after Assemblymember Felix Rivera hit his term limit on the body, completing an across-the-board defense by the Anchorage Assembly’s progressive and moderate majority against conservative challengers in competitive races.
Conservatives had hoped to reclaim a foothold in the city, where they have found little success since former right-wing Mayor Dave Bronson’s largely disastrous term in office. This year, several conservative campaigns drew accusations of shady campaign tactics, including questions about candidate residency and whether conservatives were running shadow leftist candidates with the hope of undermining support for progressives.
The winner of the Midtown race, along with other winners, will be formally sworn in at the regular Anchorage Assembly meeting on Tuesday, April 26.
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 Bluesky.
