Majority of Anchorage Assembly serving first term after April 2 election


In Alaska, five of 11 seats on the Anchorage Assembly and two of seven Anchorage School District school board seats were up for nonpartisan general election on April 2, 2019. Seats on these two governing bodies have three-year terms, and the filing deadline to run in the election was February 1.
 
The five seats up for election on the Anchorage Assembly were District 2 Seat A, District 3 Seat D, District 4 Seat F, District 5 Seat H, and District 6 Seat J. Incumbents Forrest Dunbar and John Weddleton ran unopposed for re-election to the District 5 and 6 seats, respectively. The other three Anchorage Assembly elections were open-seat races without incumbents; two did not file for re-election, and Dick Traini could not run due to term limits. Crystal Kennedy, Kameron Perez Verdia, and Meg Zaletel won the District 2, 3, and 4 seats, respectively.
 
The last regular election for the Anchorage Assembly in 2017 saw only two of six incumbents run for re-election, due in part to term limits. Consequently, seven of the chamber’s 11 members will be serving their first term after the April 2 winners are sworn into office.
 
The two Anchorage School District school board seats on the ballot were Seat A and Seat B. Margo Bellamy won the Seat A position; the incumbent, Mark Foster, did not file for the race after being appointed to the board in October 2018. The Seat B position was won by incumbent Starr Marsett, who was first elected to the board in 2016. Marsett currently serves as president of the board.
 
Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska and the 62nd-largest city in the U.S. by population. The Anchorage School District served 48,238 students during the 2016-2017 school year.
 
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