The 2021 Anchorage mayoral election was held on April 6, 2021, to elect the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the List of cities in Alaska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of ...

. As no candidate received at least 45% of the vote in the first round, the two candidates with the highest vote share,

Forrest Dunbar Forrest Dunbar (born September 19, 1984) is an American politician, attorney, and military officer. He is a member of the Alaska Senate, representing East Anchorage District J since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served o ...

and Dave Bronson, advanced to a runoff on May 11. The election was officially

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

. Incumbent

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

acting mayor

Austin Quinn-Davidson Austin Quinn-Davidson (born October 29, 1979) is an American politician and attorney who served as the acting mayor of Anchorage, Alaska after the resignation of Ethan Berkowitz in October 2020 until the inauguration of Dave Bronson in July 2021 ...

, first appointed to the position in October 2020, was eligible to run for reelection to a full term, but did not run. The deadline to register to vote in the first round was March 7.

Mail-in ballot Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an ele ...

s were sent out starting on March 15. On May 21, 2021, after a narrow loss, Dunbar conceded the race to Bronson. Bronson was sworn in on July 1.

Background

Ethan Berkowitz Ethan Avram Berkowitz (born February 4, 1962) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician from Alaska. From 1997 to 2007 he was the Alaska State Representative for District 26, serving as the Democratic Party Minority Leader from 199 ...

was elected mayor in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and was ineligible to run for a third term. On October 13, 2020, he announced his resignation through his chief of staff Jason Bockenstadt at a meeting of the Anchorage Assembly, Anchorage's

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

, to be effective October 23. The resignation came after a reporter made allegations that he was engaged in an inappropriate relationship with her. Felix Rivera, chair of the Anchorage Assembly, was next in the line of succession to the office. After a failed attempt immediately following the resignation announcement, the Assembly met in a special meeting on October 16 to reorganize itself, installing

as Assembly chair with Rivera as vice-chair. This move allowed Quinn-Davidson to succeed to the office of mayor and allowed Rivera to retain his position presiding over Assembly meetings. Quinn-Davidson is both the first female and first

openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

mayor of Anchorage. On November 4, the Assembly voted not to hold a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

for the position of mayor, meaning that the next election for the seat would be the regularly scheduled one in 2021.

General election

In the leadup to the general election, it was widely believed that there would be a runoff between Dunbar and one of the more conservative candidates.

Candidates

Major candidates

* Dave Bronson ( Republican), former

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

and commercial pilot *

( Democratic), Member of the Anchorage Assembly (2016–present), member of the

Alaska Army National Guard The Alaska Army National Guard is a component of the United States Army and the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Along with the Alaska Air National Guard, it makes up the Alaska National Guard. Alaska Army National Guard units ...

*Bill Evans (

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

), Member of the Anchorage Assembly (2014–2017), board and two-time co-chair of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce *Bill Falsey (

), Anchorage Municipal Manager (2017–2020) *George Martinez ( Democratic), educator, former special assistant to

for economic development *Mike Robbins ( Republican), businessman

Other registered candidates

*Anna Anthony *Jeffrey Brown,

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

worker *Darin Colbry ( Republican), candidate for

Governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

*Heather Herndon, real estate developer, construction, project manager, accountant, portfolio private placement financier *Jacob Seth Kern ( Democratic),

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates are most common where there is no limit on the number of times that a person can run for office and little cost ...

*Reza Momin *Albert Swank Jr., civil engineer *Jacob Versteeg, compliance examiner *Joe Westfall

Withdrawn

Eric Croft Eric Chancy Croft (born November 6, 1964) is an American attorney and politician who represented Anchorage's West district on the Anchorage Assembly from 2016 to 2019. From 1997 to 2006, Croft served as a member of the Alaska House of Representati ...

( Democratic), former

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

, former member of the Anchorage Assembly, former president of the Anchorage School Board, and candidate for

governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

*Dustin Darden, maintenance worker and perennial candidate *Nelson Jesus Godoy, activist and candidate for mayor in

Declined

(

), incumbent acting mayor

Endorsements

Fundraising

Debates

Five candidates did not participate in either debate: Anna Anthony, Darin Colbry, Jacob Seth Kern, Reza Momin, and Jacob Versteeg.

Polling

Results

Runoff

In the leadup to the runoff, third-place primary finisher Falsey and sixth-place finisher Martinez endorsed Dunbar, while fifth-place finisher Robbins endorsed Bronson. Fourth-place finisher Evans did not make an endorsement.

Polling

Results

Notes

References

External links

Official campaign websites
Dave Bronson (R) for Mayor

Forrest Dunbar (D) for MayorBill Evans (I) for Mayor

Bill Falsey (I) for Mayor

Heather Herndon for Mayor

George Martinez (D) for MayorMike Robbins (R) for Mayor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anchorage Mayoral Election, 2018 2021 United States mayoral elections 2021 Alaska elections

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...