2021 Anchorage mayoral election
The 2021 Anchorage mayoral election was held on April 6, 2021, to elect the mayor of Anchorage, Alaska. As no candidate received at least 45% of the vote in the first round, the two candidates with the highest vote share, Forrest Dunbar and Dave Bronson, advanced to a runoff on May 11, results pending. The election was officially nonpartisan. Incumbent independent acting mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson, 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 ballots were sent out starting on March 15. On May 21, 2021, after a narrow loss, Forrest Dunbar conceded the race to Dave Bronson. Bronson was sworn in on July 1. Background. Ethan Berkowitz was elected mayor in 2015 and 2018 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, 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 Austin Quinn-Davidson 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 mayor of Anchorage. On November 4, the Assembly voted  not to hold a special election 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. Debates. Five candidates did not participate in either debate: Anna Anthony, Darin Colbry, Jacob Seth Kern, Reza Momin, and Jacob Versteeg. 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.