Twelve Candidates for Mat-Su Borough Mayor, Assembly, and School Board filed before the deadline on August 30th.
Current Mayor Edna DeVries (de-VREES) is running to maintain her seat. Hillary Palmer of Wasilla is also running for mayor. The Borough Assembly voted earlier this year to extend the mayor’s term from three to four years. And Borough elections now fall in line with State and Federal elections.
Only 15,652 total votes were cast in the November 21st, 2021 Mayoral election. Mayor DeVries won with about 56 percent of the vote. The Borough is the fastest growing area of Alaska with a current population of about 115,000.
Now limited to two terms, Assembly Districts 3, 6, and 7 seats are up for grabs. District 7 includes the Willow area, Caswell Lakes, Talkeetna, Chase, and Trapper Creek. The seat is currently held by Ron Bernier, who is running to keep the seat. Sheena Fort of Caswell Lakes is running against him this year.
A total of 2,229 votes were cast for the District 7 Assembly seat in 2021. Bernier won the seat by only 453 votes. Census data shows that there are more than 2,000 people living in the Caswell Lakes area alone and more than 5,000 residents live in the Upper Valley. District 7 covers the most land area of any Assembly Districts by far. But the Upper Valley has smaller population centers compared to the rest of the District in the Houston and Meadow Lakes area. At least 12 Community Councils and seven Road Service Areas are in, or partially in, District 7.
School Board Districts 1, 4, and 5 are also up for election this year. District 1 has two candidates and Districts 4 and 5 each have one candidate.
Borough elections will be held alongside the State and Federal elections this year on Tuesday, November 5th.
